A review of plant breeders’ rights application and granting for fruit trees in China from 2000 to 2019

Abstract

China is the largest fruit producer in the world. The demand for new varieties is high, but there is very limited information on the application and granting procedures for plant breeders’ rights (PBR) in China, constituting a bottleneck for new variety owners attempting to reach this promising market. In this review, published information on all fruit tree (including strawberry) PBR applications and grants from 2000 to the end of 2019 from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was collected and analyzed. PBR applications were submitted for 26 genera/species of fruit trees, covering tropical, subtropical and temperate fruit trees and berries. Malus Mill., Actinidia Lindl. and Vitis L. were the genera/species with the highest number of PBR applications—189, 183 and 168, respectively. A total 984 and 337 applications were from domestic and 19 foreign countries, respectively, the latter led by the United States of America, Japan and South Korea. Among foreign applicants, more than half were privately funded entities. Public institutions dominated domestic applicants. A total of 428 and 89 PBR were granted to domestic and foreign applicants, respectively. The granting lag from application was 2.91 years for domestic and 7.15 years for foreign applications, and the underlying reason for this difference is analyzed. This review provides a broad overview of fruit tree PBR applications and grants in China, which could help breeders with PBR application-related decisions, and serve to optimize the PBR application process in China.