Law No. 144 of the Year 2019 on Amending some Provisions of the Law on Protection of Intellectual
Property Rights, promulgated by Law No. 82 of the year 2002
In the name of the People, The President of the Republic, The house of representatives passed the following law and it is hereby promulgated:
(Article One)
The text of articles (192/ third clause, 192 BIS/ second clause, 193/ third clause, 194/ last clause, 195/ first clause — Item 3 and second clause, 198, 201/ fourth clause, 202 and 202/ BIS (1) of Law on Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, promulgated by Law No. 82 of the year 2002 shall be substituted by the following texts:
Article (192/ Third Clause):
During the examination process, the Plant Variety Protection Office may plant the variety or carry out other necessary tests, either by itself or by assigning third parties. In all cases, the results of agricultural tests or other tests previously carried out shall be taken into consideration.
Article (192 BIS/ Second Clause):
Subject to the provisions of the fifth clause of this Article, the rights arising from the registered denomination of the variety, shall not hamper the free use of such denomination, whether during the validity of the breeder’s right, or after expiry thereof.
Article (193/ Third Clause):
Nonetheless, provisional protection measures shall be taken to safeguard the interests of the breeder during the period between the date of filing the application and granting protection rights. These measures shall only apply to the persons notified by the breeder of such filing.
Article (194/ Last Clause):
Essentially derived varieties may be obtained by the selection of a natural or induced mutant, or of a clonal plant histological variant, the selection of a variant unit from plants of the initial variety, backcrossing, or transformation by genetic engineering.
Article (195/ First Clause — Item 3):
3- Done for the purpose of breeding other varieties and the acts stipulated in the first and third clauses of Article (194) of this Law if they are related to such other varieties, except the cases of the fourth clause of the same Article.
Article (195/ Second Clause):
The breeder’s rights shall not be considered infringed by farmers who, within reasonable limits and subject to the legitimate interests of the breeder, use the product of the harvest which they have obtained by planting, on the lands possessed thereby for propagation purposes, the protected variety, or a variety covered by the fourth clause of Article (194) of this Law.
Article (198):
The breeder’s right shall not extend to acts concerning any material of the protected variety, or of any of the varieties stipulated in the fourth clause of Article (194) of this Law, or any material derived from said materials, which has been sold or marketed by the breeder, or with his consent, inside or outside the Arab Republic of Egypt, except for the following acts:
-
Further propagation of any of the varieties referred to in this clause;
- Export of the materials of the protected variety, which enables the propagation of the variety in a country which does not protect the variety, class or plant type thereof unless export is for consumption purposes.
“Material” stipulated in the first clause of this Article, not included in the breeder’s protection right, shall mean:
I . Propagating material of any kind;
- Harvest material, including entire plants or parts thereof;
- Any product made directly from the harvest material.
Acts done in member states of a regional organization, of which the Ara Republic of Egypt is a member, shall be considered as done in Egypt, where the statutes of that organization so stipulate.
Article (201/ Fourth Clause):
Publication of applications for protection certificates, the grant of breeder’s rights, the proposed denominations of the variety, and the denominations approved shall be made in a monthly journal issued by the Office, at the expense of the title holder. In case an application is rejected, the
Office shall notify the applicant of the decision of rejection and the reasons thereof. Any interested party may appeal against the decision on granting the breeder’s right certificate or rejecting the protection application within sixty days from the date of publication or date of notification, as the case may be.
Article (202):
The Plant Varietp Protection Office map issue a decision to nullifp the breeder’s right certificate in anp of the following cases:
If it is established that the conditions stipulated in any of items (1 and 2) of the first clause of Article (192) of this law are not met by the plant variety at the time of granting protection.
If it is established that the conditions stipulated in any of items (3 and 4) of the same clause of the same Article referred to in item (1) of this Article are not met at the time of granting protection if it is granted based on the information and documents furnished by the breeder.
If it is established that the certificate is granted to a person not entitled to it unless the right is transferred to a person who is entitled thereto.
The Office shall notify the concerned party of the nullification decision by a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt and it may appeal against the decision within sixty days from the date of notification.
Article (202-Bis “1 “):
Provisions of Book Four of the Law on Protection of Intellectual Property Rights referred to shall apply to all plant classes and types specified by Minister of Agriculture and they shall also apply to all classes and types after the lapse o ten years from the date of the enforcement of this law.
(Article Two)
This law shall be published in the Official Journal and shall come into force the day following the date of its publication.
This law shall be stamped with the seal of the State and shall be enforced as one of its laws.
Issued at the Presidency of the Republic on 4 Dhul Hijjah, 1440 (Islamic Calendar), corresponding to August 5, 2019 (Gregorian Calendar).
Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi
