CẠN QUYỀN ĐỐI VỚI GIỐNG CÂY TRỒNG THEO PHÁP LUẬT VIỆT NAM

Abstract

The 2005 Intellectual Property Law, amended 2009, 2019 and 2022 (theIP Law), stipulates a number of limitations on the rights to plant varieties, such asexceptions that do not infringe those rights or requirements concerning the transfer ofrights to use plant varieties. Among these limitations, there is a provision that the rightsto plant varieties do not apply to acts relating to materials of protected plant varietiesthat are sold or otherwise lawfully placed on the Vietnamese or foreign markets by theowner of the protection certificate or a person authorised by the owner of the protectioncertificate. This provision gives concrete effect to the doctrine of intellectual propertyexhaustion – a doctrine of intellectual property that emerged in the 19th century and hasbeen recognized and incorporated into the laws of many countries, including Vietnam.Through this article, the authors clarify the characteristics of the exhaustion of rights toplant varieties and analyze the limited effectiveness of the current provisions on theexhaustion of rights to plant varieties, thereby proposing directions for improvingVietnam's intellectual property legislation.Keywords: Intellectual Property Law; the exhaustion doctrine; rights to plantvarieties; the UPOV Convention.