Plant Breeders' Rights Act, 1976 (Act No. 15 of 1976)1. Definitions |
In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—
means to distribute to members of the public or to bring to their notice in any manner whatsoever any written, illustrated, visual or other descriptive material, oral statement, communication, representation or reference with the intention to promote the sale of any plants or any propagating material of a variety referred to in section 2 or to encourage the use thereof or to draw attention to the nature, properties, advantages or uses thereof or to the manner in which or the conditions on which it may be purchased or otherwise be acquired;
[Definition substituted by section 1(a) of Act No. 15 of 1996]
means a person, resident in the Republic, who has been duly authorized by an applicant, breeder or holder to act on his behalf in connection with any matter regarding this Act, who is for such purpose recognized by the registrar in the prescribed manner if he complies with the prescribed requirements and in respect of whom the registrar has not been notified in the prescribed manner that such authorization has been terminated;
[Definition substituted by section 1(a) of Act No. 5 of 1990]
means a country, including any colony, protectorate or territory subject to the authority or under the suzerainty of any other country and any territory over which a mandate or trusteeship is exercised, which the State President by proclamation in the Gazette declares to be an agreement country with a view to the fulfillment of a bilateral agreement concerning plant breeders' rights between the Republic and such country;
means a person referred to in section 6 who applies in terms of section 7 for a plant breeders' right;
[Definition substituted by section 1(b) of Act No. 5 of 1980]
means the board referred to in section 42;
in relation to a variety referred to in section 2, means—
| (a) | the person who bred, or discovered and developed, the variety; |
| (b) | the employer of the person referred to in paragraph (a), if that person is an employee whose duties are such that the variety was bred, or discovered and developed, in the performance of such duties; or |
| (c) | the successor in title of the person referred to in paragraph (a) or the employer referred to in paragraph (b); |
[Definition substituted by section 1(b) of Act No. 15 of 1996]
means a country, including any colony, protectorate or territory subject to the authority or under the suzerainty of any other country and any territory over which a mandate or trusteeship is exercised, which has signed and ratified, accepted or approved or has acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants;
[Definition substituted by section 1(c) of Act No. 5 of 1980]
in relation to a variety in respect of which a plant breeder's right has been granted, means the generic name for the variety;
[Definition substituted by section 1(c) of Act No. 15 of 1996]
means the Department of Agriculture;
[Definition substituted by section 1(a) of Act No. 38 of 1983]
means the essential characteristics of a variety of a plant as expressed by means of a test or trial or any other acknowledged means of determining the characteristics of a variety of a plant;
[Definition inserted by section 1(d) of Act No. 15 of 1996]
in relation to a plant breeder's right, means the person to whom such a right has been granted in terms of section 20, or who, according to an entry in the register, is the owner of such a right;
means all related genera, species and subspecies of a plant which are known by the same common name;
"mark"
means a mark as defined in section 2 of the Trade Marks Act, 1963 (Act No. 62 of 1963);
means the Minister of Agriculture;
[Definition substituted by section 1(a) of Act No. 38 of 1983]
[Definition deleted by section 1(e) of Act No. 15 of 1996]
means an officer or an employee as defined in section 1 of the Public Service Act, 1957 (Act No.54 of 1957);
[Definition substituted by section 1(c) of Act No. 38 of 1983]
includes any part of a plant;
[Definition substituted by section 1(f) of Act No. 15 of 1996]
means a plant breeder's right granted in terms of section 20;
means prescribed by regulation;
means any material of a plant that can be used for the propagation of a plant;
[Definition substituted by section 1(g) of Act No. 15 of 1996]
means a variety of a plant in respect of which a plant breeder's right has been granted;
[Definition substituted by section 1(h) of Act No. 15 of 1996]
means the register kept in terms of section 4;
means the officer designated as Registrar of Plant Breeders' Rights in terms of section 3;
[Definition substituted by section 1(d) of Act No. 38 of 1983]
means a regulation made under this Act;
includes agree to sell, or to offer, advertise, keep, expose, transmit, send, convey or deliver for sale, or to exchange or to dispose of to any person in any manner for a consideration; and 'sold' and 'sale' have corresponding meanings;
includes the regulations;
means any plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known classification, which grouping, irrespective of whether or not the conditions for the grant of a plant breeder's right are fully met, can be—
| (a) | defined by the expression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype or combination of genotypes; |
| (b) | distinguished from any other plant grouping by the expression of at least one of the said characteristics; and |
| (c) | considered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated unchanged. |
[Definition substituted by section 1(i) of Act No. 15 of 1996]