Research on the Rules of Right Restriction under the Protection Regulations for New Varieties of Plants: Taking Farmers' Own Seed Saving as an Example

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The protection of intellectual property for the new varieties of plants aligns with the needs of contemporary development, yet it also creates conflicts with the traditional practices of farmers who save their own seeds. Farmers' right to save their own seeds is a natural entitlement, and the clash between the public interest in this practice and the rights associated with new plant varieties remains a derivative issue of the intellectual property enclosure movement. The starting point of the problem lies in reconciling the private nature of intellectual property rights with public interests, while its resolution depends on the adaptation of limitations and exceptions within intellectual property law. Under the protection of intellectual property rights for new plant varieties, farmers face difficulties in determining reasonable boundaries for seed saving. At the legal level, it is necessary to recognize the legitimacy of farmers’ seed-saving practices and reasonably define such activities; at the practical level, it is feasible to incorporate relevant systems from copyright law, establish a compensation mechanism, and set up collective management organizations for seed-saving fees to rebalance the interests of relevant parties.