Section 2: Rights and obligations attached to plant variety certificates

A variety essential to human or animal life may be made subject to the ex officio licence system by decree in the Conseil d’Etat or, where it is of interest to public health, by joint order of the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for Public Health.

From the day of publication of the decree which makes plant breeders’ certificates subject to the ex officio licence system, any person presenting technical and professional guarantees may apply to the Minister of Agriculture for the grant of an exploitation licence. This licence can only be non-exclusive. It is granted by order of the Minister of Agriculture on specified conditions, particularly as regards its duration and scope, but excluding the…

If the holder of an ex-officio licence does not meet the required conditions, the Minister for Agriculture may, after obtaining the opinion of the body referred to in Article L. 412-1, revoke it.

The State may obtain ex officio, at any time, for the needs of national defence, a licence to exploit a plant variety which is the subject of an application for a certificate or a breeder’s certificate, whether such exploitation is carried out by itself or on its behalf. The ex officio licence is granted, at the request of the minister responsible for defence, by order of the minister for agriculture….

The rights attached to an ex-officio licence may not be assigned or transferred.

The State may, at any time, by decree, expropriate in whole or in part for the needs of national defence plant varieties, the subject of applications for certificates or certificates. Failing amicable agreement, the expropriation compensation shall be fixed by the judicial court.

Where the holder of a patent for a biotechnological invention cannot exploit the invention without infringing a prior plant variety right, he may apply for a licence to exploit the variety protected by the variety right, provided that the invention constitutes, in relation to the plant variety, a significant technical advance and is of considerable economic interest. The applicant must prove that he has not been able to obtain a…

The licence application provided for in Article L. 623-22-1 shall be made to the judicial court. The licence is non-exclusive. In particular, the court shall determine its duration, scope and the amount of royalties to which it gives rise. These conditions may be modified by decision of the court, at the request of the holder of the right or licence. The rights attached to this licence may only be transferred…

Any person governed by public or private law may obtain a compulsory licence under the conditions set out in this article and in Article L. 623-22-4. The application for a compulsory licence is made to the judicial court in the place where the right holder is located. It must be accompanied by proof that: 1° The applicant has not been able to obtain a licence within one year from the…

The rights attached to a compulsory licence may not be assigned or transferred except with the undertaking or part of the undertaking to which they are attached. This assignment or transfer is, on pain of nullity, subject to the authorisation of the court.