The Plant IP Year in Review 2025

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Jocelyn Bosse

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Jan 2, 2026, 6:30:58 AM (5 days ago) Jan 2

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The Plant IP Year in Review 2025

Jocelyn Bosse Friday, January 02, 2026 - Jocelyn Bosse, new genomic techniques, patents, Plant Breeders' Rights, plant varieties, trade marks

As we begin the new year, it is a good time to reflect on the developments throughout 2025. It was a busy year for plant IP around the world, so let's take a look at the key legal updates and consider what we can expect to see in 2026.

Patents and Plant Breeding

There was big news to close out the year: the EU finally reached a political agreement in the early hours of the morning on 4 December on a new regulation for new genomic techniques (NGTs) for plant breeding, which includes patent transparency measures (IPKat) but didn't adopt the EU Parliament's proposed "patent ban" (PatKat). The European Commission also published their "NGT patent study" last month (IPKat), while another expert study on IP and agricultural gene editing was published back in September (IPKat).

Photo from Pixabay

Meanwhile, this Kat has been arguing that European countries should be giving more attention to the breeder's exemption in patent law. With the influence of the UPC Agreement, the exemption has receiving increasing uptake and, in Italy, we saw the first case where this exemption was successfully asserted (Case R.G. n. 198/2025).

In England, the precision breeding framework entered into force for plants in November, which has no effect on IP. During the consultations on the new English framework, there were calls for patent transparency measures (IPKat), but these were not adopted. We will wait to see how the finalised text of the EU NGT regulation and the English precision breeding framework influence the legal position in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

The patentability of agri-tech inventions in Europe has remained controversial, with oppositions to Carlsberg and Heineken's mutant barley patents (IPKat) and Nunhems' watermelon patents (PatKat) that continue to contest - unsuccessfully - the application of Broccoli/Tomatoes and Pepper. In Australia, a challenge against a patent for wheat plants on the grounds of support failed in the Federal Court last month (IPKat).

Plant Variety Rights in Europe and beyond

The Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) celebrated their 30th anniversary with a seminar entitled "30 Years of CPVO enabling Innovation for the Future of Plant Breeding." This Kat had the pleasure of attending, while readers who missed the event can also view the recording here.

The CPVO reports indicate that they received a total of 2,842 PVR applications and granted 2,762 titles in 2025. There's the possibility of reforms ahead: the European Commission launched an evaluation of the EU plant variety rights framework. The call for evidence was completed in March, and we expect that the Commission will open the public consultations sometime soon.

In a rare PVR decision in August, the CJEU released its judgment in the 'Melrose' potato dispute (C‑426/24 P), which confirmed the serious consequences of failure to pay annual PVR fees (IPKat). We also saw a case before the General Court in September concerning the novelty of the 'Cripps Pink' and 'Cripps Red' apple varieties (T‑159/24), which determined that there was enough evidence to open nullity proceedings (IPKat).

Meanwhile, the UK courts are dealing with a PVR infringement dispute about a mandarin orange variety in Nador Cott Protection v Asda. [Merpel: Readers may recognise the name 'Nadorcott' from controversial CJEU decision: IPKat]. In April, Mr Justice Mellor refused to stay the proceedings while the UK Plant Variety Rights Office determines the validity of the 'Nadorcott' PVR, and took the opportunity to explore some important differences between PVRs and patents (IPKat). Shortly before trial, Mellor J also confirmed that it wasn't open to Asda on their pleadings to argue that the 'W. Murcott' and 'Nadorcott' varieties were factually distinct: [2025] EWHC 2896 (Pat). The trial went ahead in Patents Court at the end of November and this Kat eagerly awaits this judgment on the important topic of essentially derived varieties.

In South Africa, the Plant Breeders' Rights Act 2018 finally entered into force in June (IPKat). The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) welcomed its 80th member - Nigeria - in March (IPKat).

Keeping an eye on the latest developments. Photo by Gamze Yıldız via Pexels.

In Kenya, the High Court decision in Wathome v Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service [2025] KEHC 18166 determined that the provisions of the Seed and Plant Varieties Act 2012 that imposed criminal sanctions for selling, sharing and exchanging unregistered, uncertified and protected seeds were unconstitutional because - amongst other things - they were inconsistent with farmers' rights under the Plant Treaty and the constitutional requirement for the Kenyan Parliament to "recognise and protect the ownership of indigenous seeds and plant varieties, their genetic and diverse characteristics and their use by the communities of Kenya."

In China, the revised Regulations on the Protection of New Plant Varieties came into effect. Throughout the year, there were many successful enforcement actions with record-breaking awards of damages, such as the infringement of the 'Scilate' apple variety (IPKat) and several hybrid corn varieties (IPKat). In December, the Ministry of Agriculture published their list of "Top Ten Typical Cases" selected from administrative enforcement, reexamination proceedings, and judicial adjudications about agricultural plant varieties over the last two years.

Finally, Canada moved forward with consultations on their draft changes to the Plant Breeders' Rights Regulations. The Government will be evaluating the feedback and we can expect some updates about how they plan to proceed in the coming months.

Trade Marks for Plants

At the intersection of trade marks, geographical indications and plant variety names, the New Zealand and Kenyan courts released their decisions in October rejecting the Indian Government's attempts to assert rights in the term BASMATI for rice. This Kat and her collaborator Caroline Wanjiru Muchiri have some criticisms of the Court of Appeal of Kenya's judgment, see IPKat here. We are still awaiting the judgment from the Federal Court of Australia on this topic.

In the previous Year in Review, this Kat noted that the EUIPO Opposition Division had, once again, held that there was no likelihood of confusion between the PINK LADY and WILD PINK trade marks for apples, but the matter was under appeal. In November 2025, this long-running conflict was resolved through a settlement (see EUIPO Board of Appeal Decision R 1132/2024-5).

Plant IP in the United States

The cumulative number of granted US Plant Patents reached 37,188 at the end of 2025. Throughout the year, there was a fair amount of litigation under the Plant Patent Act:

In March, the long-running dispute against California Berry Cultivars, LLC, came to a close after the US District Court determined that Driscoll's failed to provide enough evidence to continue their infringement case concerning their strawberry plant patents (IPKat).
The British rose breeders David Austin Roses Ltd have been able to proceed with their plant patent infringement claims in Texas after an initial setback in February (IPKat).
In October, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada settled most of their cherry dispute. The case concerned infringement of their plant patent for their '13S2009' cherry (marketed as STACCATO®), after a US farmer patented and sold the variety under the name 'Glory'. The farmer had successfully challenged Canada's plant patent on the grounds of novelty, but the decision was voided in March when it emerged that the invalidity finding was based on incomplete and misleading evidence submitted to the US District Court (E.D. Washington) [Merpel: submitting false information to the court... that's one way to lose a case!]. Per the settlement, the farmer apologised and assigned the 'Glory' patent to Canada.

The ongoing Corteva v. Inari saga raises issues about both utility patents and PVRs, although the most recent developments have focused on the validity of one of Corteva's patents, which survived a challenge in November on the grounds of enablement (IPKat).

A year ago, this Kat wondered whether the Trump Administration would continue the Biden Administration's work to improve competition in the US agricultural sector. The answer seems to be "the what now?" as we haven't received any further updates on the collaboration between the USPTO and the USDA on plant IP issues - both agencies have been caught up with other priorities, it seems.

Looking ahead to 2026

This Kat anticipates a lot of updates in the coming year, including:

In the UK, the judgment in the Nador Cott v Asda case and continued discussion about the implementation of the precision breeding framework.
In the EU, the public consultation on the evaluation of the EU legislation on plant variety rights and the finalisation of the text of the NGT Regulation, notably its patent transparency measures.
In the USA, there's plenty of litigation to keep an eye on, from the David Austin Roses case to the Corteva v. Inari dispute.
In Canada, the next steps on the amendments to the Plant Breeders' Rights Regulations.
In Australia, the Federal Court judgment concerning the registration of BASMATI as a certification mark for rice.

Of course, the new year is sure to bring lots of unexpected developments in the world of plant IP. This Kat looks forward to keeping readers up to date throughout 2026. In the meantime, happy new year everyone!

Further Reading

The Plant IP Year in Review 2024 (December 2024)
International Conference – IP Protection for Plant Innovation 2024 (April 2025)
Plum opportunity missed? From domain name disputes to plant variety licensing challenges (February 2025)
USPTO awkwardly forgets to follow the rules on trademarks for grass varieties... but naming conflict still resolves amicably (January 2025)

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