To be presented in the 3rd Asian regional technical meeting for plant variety protection organized by UPOV in cooperation with MAF of

The documents constituting the application should be received, where the applied variety belongs to the species or genus of the plants entitled to variety protection. Any application that is complete and correct or any application that is amended shall be given a filing date and shall be recorded in the register of applications. The filing date shall be taken to be the day on which the documents constituting the application have been received.

An applicant may correct the application before the transmittal of a certified copy of the decision of publication, if the correction does not change the main points of the original application. An applicant may, after the transmittal of a certified copy of the decision of publication, amend the application under any of the items, provided that such correction does not change the main points of the original application

The NSMO shall have applications for variety protection, oppositions to the grant of variety protection, and applications for the registration of variety denomination, which will be examined by an examiner.

NSMO publish the variety protection application, which has been registered in the register of variety protection applications by publishing the application in the Variety Protection Gazette without delay. Any person may, when the application is published, furnish the examiner with information, together with evidence, that the variety concerned is unprotectable because of lack of condition of protection.

An examiner shall examine whether an applied variety meets the requirements of conditions of protection. The examiner may entrust a DUS testing Div. of NSMO, research institute, university, or any appropriate person with investigation or testing to perform the examination.

The examiner may order the applicant to furnish all materials, if necessary, for the purposes of the examination. The applicant who has been ordered to furnish the materials shall comply with the order, unless the applicant has a legitimate reason for his failure.

The examiner shall render a ruling to reject a variety protection application where it is not protectable under provision. An examiner should notify the applicant of the reasons and give him an opportunity to submit a written opinion designating a time limit for such submission when he intends to render a ruling on rejection.

Where an examiner finds no reason for rejecting a variety protection application, he shall render a decision that the application is to be published. Where a decision to publish the application is made, the examiner shall transmit a certified copy of the decision of publication of the application to the applicant and publish the application in the Official PVP Gazette that published in every month. The examiner shall make the application files and their attachments available for public inspection for sixty (60) days following the date of publication of the application.

After publication of his application for public inspection, the applicant for variety protection shall have an exclusive right to commercially and industrially exploit the variety claimed in the variety protection application. For this provisional protection, the MAF considering amend the law that provisional protection from publication for public inspection after examination to publication of application when the variety applied.

During the publication of an application for public inspection, where the variety in the variety protection application does not comply with the requirements of variety protection and where the variety protection application is filed by a person other than the one entitled to variety protection, any person can file an opposition to the grant of variety protection with the examiner.

Where no grounds for rejecting a variety protection application are established, the examiner makes a decision that variety protection is to be granted for the application. The decision on grant of variety protection should be in written form and state the reasons. When the decision on grant of variety protection has been, it should be transmit a certified copy of the decision to the applicant, and publish the decision in the Official PVP Gazette.

The variety protection right shall expire at the end of the twentieth (20th) calendar year following the registration of its establishment; for trees and fruit trees, it shall expire at the end of the twenty-fifth (25th) year.

A variety protection right holder shall have an exclusive right to exploit the protected variety commercially and industrially. However, where the variety protection right is subject to an exclusive license, this provision shall not apply to the extent that the exclusive licensee has the exclusive right to exploit the protected variety.

A variety protection right holder shall also have an exclusive right to exploit harvested material and the product which has been made directly from harvested material of the seed of the protected variety commercially and industrially. However, this provision shall not apply where the product is made directly by a person who has no knowledge of the right when producing the product. The variety right shall also apply in relation to varieties which are essentially derived from the protected variety, where the protected variety is not itself an essentially derived variety, varieties which are not clearly distinguishable from the protected variety and varieties whose production requires the repeated use of the protected variety.

The effects of the variety protection right shall not extend to exploitation of the protected variety for self-consumption and for non-commercial purposes; exploitation of the protected variety for experimental and research purposes; and exploitation of the protected variety for the purpose of breeding other varieties. A variety protection right shall be restricted when a farmer collects the seeds of the variety for himself for the purpose of self-production.

The variety protection right shall not extend to acts concerning any material of the protected variety which has been sold or otherwise marketed in the Republic of Korea by the holder of the variety protection right, or an exclusive or non-exclusive license, or its harvested material, or any material directly made from said material, unless such an act falls under either of the following items; 1) an act of propagating the seed of the protected variety by using the seeds of the protected variety which has been sold or otherwise marketed, its harvested material, or any material directly made from said material; 2) an act of exporting the seeds of the protected variety, its harvested material, or any material directly made from said material for the purpose of propagation.

There are many ways to prevent from infringement of the variety protection right holder by such as injunction and prevention against infringement, right to claim compensation for damage, presumption of negligence and recovery of reputation of variety protection right holder or exclusive licensee.

The Variety Protection Appeal Committee was established in the MAF in order to conduct trial and retrial proceedings on variety protection. The person, objecting to a trial decision or a decision to quash an amendment of a variety protection application, written trial demand, or written retrial demand, may appeal to the Patent Court. An appeal shall be submitted within thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of the trial decision or ruling. Any person objecting to a judgment of the Patent Court may appeal to the Supreme Court.

The number of varieties applied for PVP in UPOV member countries were increased steadily after introduce the PVP system to their own countries. The purpose of the PVP system in Korea is to develop seed industry and to contribute to stability of agriculture, forestry, and fishery by enacting provisions on protection of the breeder's right. This system will stimulate breeding activities and consequently, widens the spectrum of varieties available to farmers and increase the genetic variability for breeder to develop new varieties. This system also balances benefits between farmers and breeders as well as amongst breeders, so farm saved seed and any act for the purpose of breeding new varieties are excluded from the scope of the breeder' right, which is so called, farmer's privilege and breeder's exemption, respectively.

Choi, Keun Jin and Ryu Hae-Yeong. 2000. Plant Variety Protection and its Implications on Rice in the Republic of Korea. Workshop of the effect PVP on Rice research. IRRI/Phippline. p 77∼83.

Choi, Keun Jin. 2002. Plant Variety System of Seed Industry Law in Korea./Training on Rice Seed Production for Lao Officials. KOICA/RDA. p 161∼199.

Government of Korea. Korean Intellectual Property Office. 1997. Patent Law. KIPO. p269

National Seed Management Office. 2001. Korean-English version of UPOV '91 Act and Seed Industry Law. National Seed Management Office. p112∼253.

National Seed Management Office. 2001. Rep. of Korea Seed Industry Law(Law No. 6,374). National Seed Management Office/MAF. p93

	Crops	Botanical names
1	Rice	Oryza sativa L.
2	Barley	Hordeum vulgare L.
3	Soybean	Glycine max (L.) Merrill
4	Maize	Zea mays L.
5	Potato	Solanum tuberosum L.
6	Wheat	Triticum aestivum L.
7	Radish	Raphanus sativus L.
8	Chinese cabbage	Brassica campestris L. spp. pekinensis (Lour.) Rupr.
9	Cabbage	Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata
10	Pepper	Capsicum annuum L.
11	Tomato	Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.
12	Cucumber	Cucumis sativus L.
13	Oriental melon	Cucumis melo L. var. makuwa Makino
14	Water melon	Citrullus vulgaris Schrad.
15	Squash	Cucurbita spp.
16	Welsh onion	Allium fistulosum L.
17	Onion	Allium cepa L.
18	Carrot	Daucus carota L.
19	Lettuce	Lactuca sativa L.
20	Spinach	Spinacia oleracea L.
21	Plain cactus	Gymnocalycium mihanovichii Br. & R.
22	Apple	Malus domestica Borkh.
23	Pear	Pyrus pyrifolia (Durm f.) Nakai
24	Peach	Prunus persica (L.) Batsch.
25	Rye grass	Lolium spp.
26	Tall fescue	Festucaelatior var. arundianacea (Schreb.) Wimm.
27	Red clover	Trifolium pratense L.

	Crop	Botanical name
1	Oats	Avena sativa L.
2	Sweet potato	Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.
3	Sesame	Sesamum indicum L.
4	Perilla	Perilla frutescens Brit. var. japonica Hara
5	Groundnut	Arachis hypogaea L.
6	Rape	Brassica napus L.
7	Melon	Cucumis melo L. var. reticulatus Naud
8	Broccoli	Brassica oleracea L. var. italica Plen.
9	Cauliflower	Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis (L.) Alef. var. botrytis
10	Grapevine	Vitis spp.
11	Yuzu(Citrus)	Citrus junos Sieb ex Tanaka
12	Forsythia	Forsythia spp.
13	Hibiscus	Hibiscus spp.
14	Lycoris	Lycoris spp.
15	Ajuga multiflora	Ajuga multiflora Bunge
16	Lisianthus	Eustoma grandiflorum Shinn
17	Petunia	Petunia hybrida Hort.
18	Godetia	Godetia grandiflora Lindl.
19	Impatiens	Impatiens spp.
20	Cyclamen	Cyclamen persicum Mill.
21	Snapdragon	Antirrhinum majus L.
22	Pansy	Viola tricolor L. var. hortensis DC.
23	Daisy	Bellis perennis L.
24	Alstromeria	Alstroemeria spp.
25	Hyacinth	Hyacinthus spp.
26	Angelica gigas	Angelica gigas Nakai
27	Astragalus membranaceus	Astragalus membranaceus Bunge
28	Ginseng	Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer
29	Mushroom	Pleurotus spp.
30	Orchardgrass	Dactylis glomerata L.

	Crop	Botanical name
1	Dendrobium	Dendrobium Sw.
2	Aerides japonicum	Aerides japonicum Lindemb. et Reichb.
3	Neofinettia falcata	Neofinettia falcata Hu.
4	Calanthe discolor	Calanthe discolor Lindl.
5	Rose	Rosa spp.
6	Lily	Lilium spp.
7	Chrysanthemum	Dendranthema spp.
8	Iris	Chrysantuemum morifolium Ramat.
9	Gladiolus	Iris spp.
10	Tulip,	Gladiolus gandavensis van Houtte
11	Poinsettia	Tulipa gesneriana L.
12	Celosia	Emphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klot
13	Stock	Celosia cristata L.
14	Zinnia	Matthiola incana R.Br.
15	Myosotis alpestris	Zinnia elegans Jacq.
16	Senecio cruentus	Myosotis alpestris F.W. Shmidt
17	Nasturitium	Senecio cruentus DC.
18	Pot marigold	Tropaeolum majus L.
19	Lobularia maritama	Calendula officinalis L.
20	Ageratum,	Lobularia maritama Desv.
21	Hemerocallis	Ageratum houstonianum Mill
22	Rehmannia glutinosa	Hemerocallis hybrida Hort
23	Lycium	Rehmannia glutinosa
24	Dioscorea	Lycium chinensis Millor
25	Bupleurum falcatum	Bupleurum falcafum L.
26	Platycodon grandiflorum	Platycon grandiflorum DC.
27	Cassia	Cassia tora L.
28	Cnidium	Cnidium officinale Makino
29	Liriope platyphylla	Liriope graminifolia Baker
30	Anglica dahurica,	Angelica dahurica (Fischer) Bentham et Hooker
31	Saposhnikovia	Saposhinikovia seseloides (Hoffm.) Kitagawa

	PVP law	Patent law
Purpose	Agricultural development	Industrial development
Object	Plant variety	Industrial invention
Scope of plant	Sexual and Asexual	Asexual
Examination	Document, Field test	Document
Conditions	Novelty, Denomination Distinctness, Uniformity, Stability	Applicability for Industry Novelty, Inventive Step
Grant scope Experiment Farmers use	By scope of law Exception of Rights Exception of Rights	By scope of application Exception of Rights Require the authorization
Period	20∼25 years	20 years

Crops	No. of species	No. of application						No. of Registration
Crops	No. of species	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	Total	No. of Registration
Food crops	7	178	27	30	41	38	314	251
Vegetables	11	17	24	27	45	24	137	38
Fruits	5	26	11	9	19	2	67	26
Ornamental	12	3	9	21	46	161	240	9
Grasses	2	-	1	2	1	-	4	1
Industrial crops	11	-	-	5	69	13	87	-
Total	48	224	72	94	221	238	849	325