Legal and Historical Perspective of Plant Breeders Rights Act of Pakistan

Zainab Maqbool; Arusa Aftab; Zubaida Yousaf; Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq

doi:10.69971/xw94g107

Authors

Zainab Maqbool Department of Botany, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
Arusa Aftab Department of Botany, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
Zubaida Yousaf Department of Botany, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq Office of Research Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC), University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69971/xw94g107

Keywords:

Intellectual property, Pakistan, TRIPS, UPOV, Plant Variety, Plant Breeders Rights Act

Abstract

Pakistan is an agricultural country and numerous plant varieties have been developed indigenously by local scientists. There was a long felt need to introduce any sort of protection mechanism for these novel plant varieties to protect the research and development (R&D). Being a World Trade Organization (WTO) member, Pakistan acceded to the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement in 1995, and since then, legislation was due to protect the rights of breeders of new plant varieties. In 2016, the Government of Pakistan passed the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act (PBRA), in alignment with the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants Convention of 1991 (UPOV), balancing the interests of biotechnology companies and traditional plant breeders. The current study highlights Pakistan's strengths and areas that still require improvement to meet the nation's demands for plant variety protection.