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Abstract
This paper examines international trends in plant variety protection, a form of intellectual property
rights for plant varieties akin to patents. The TRIPs Agreement under the WTO has given a strong
impetus for the universalisation of plant variety protection regimes with common standards of protection
across countries. This paper argues that developed and developing countries are likely to adopt widely
divergent approaches to the development of intellectual property rights for plant varieties. The special
features of plant variety protection constrain the appropriability of economic returns from protected
plant varieties. Consequently, in developed countries PVP is being seen as a relatively weak intellectual
property right instrument. As stronger forms of protection for plant varieties become available, the
importance of plant variety protection in developed countries may decline. Developing countries
continue to debate the merits of extending intellectual property rights to agriculture, though they too are
obliged under the TRIPs Agreement to protect plant varieties. Their concerns are focused on the
“inequities” inherent in a system of plant breeders’ rights. Attempts by developing countries to
incorporate farmers’ rights provisions in their PVP systems are likely to dilute the incentives for private
investment in plant breeding.