• Low on the protection of the new plant varieties No.255/1998

PRIORITY
Any person who previously submitted a first application in a state party to an international convention, in the field of new plant variety protection, to which Romania is a party, enjoys a right of priority of twelve months from the date of filing the first application, if, within this period, requests with the Office the grant of a patent for the same variety, provided that the first application has been duly filed on the date of claiming the priority, and within three months from filing the application, a true copy of documents of the first application, as well as the propagating material or other evidence proving the identity of variety for both application.

CONDITIONS FOR GRANT OF PROTECTION
The protection is granted for a new plant variety and the plant patent is issued if the variety meets the following conditions: novelty, distinctness, uniformity, stability, and generic denomination, which must enable the identification thereof.

PROVISIONAL PROTECTION
During the period between the publication of the plant patent application and the grant of the plant patent, the applicant shall enjoy provisionally all rights conferred to the patent holder. The infringement of rights by third parties entails for the infringers the obligation to pay the damages, according to the civil law, the payment of the damages being executory once the right has been granted.

SUBSTANTIVE EXAMINATION
The substantive examination of the plant patent application shall be carried out within nine months of the application registration date.

CHALLENGE WAYS OF THE DECISIONS
The applicant may contest the decision of the State Office, on justified grounds within three months from communication.

Also, any person may request the revocation of the decision to grant a plant patent, within three months from its publication, where at least one of the conditions for the grant of protection was not met.

The decision of Board of Appeal of State Office may be appealed against in the Law Court of Bucharest.

The decision of the Law Court of Bucharest may be appealed against at the Court of Appeal of Bucharest.

DURATION OF THE PROTECTION
The duration of protection of the variety is 25 years beginning with the date of granting the protection for the new variety. For the new varieties of fruit -trees, grapevine and ornamental trees, the duration of the plant patent is of 30 years from the date of granting the protection.

EXCLUSIVE RIGHT OF THE PLANT PATENT HOLDER
The plant patent holder benefits from the exclusive right of exploitation of the new variety and the right of preventing any person from performing, without his authorization, the following acts concerning the propagation and harvested material of the protected variety: production or reproduction, conditioning for the purpose of propagation, offerings for sale, selling or other marketing, importing, exporting, stocking.

TRANSFER OF THE RIGHTS
The right to the grant of a plant patent, the rights deriving from the filing of the application for the plant patent, as well as the rights derived from the plant patent may be transferred to other natural or legal persons by assignment contract, by license contract or by legal or testamentary succession.

MAINTENANCE OF THE PROTECTED VARIETY
The plant patent holder shall be under the obligation to maintain the protected variety during the whole duration of the plant patent so that the variety keeps all the characteristics presented in the official description, on the date of the grant of the plant patent.

CANCELLATION OF THE PLANT PATENT
Any person having a legitimate interest may file a request for cancellation of the plant patent any time during the period protection. The decision of cancellation of the plant patent becomes final, but it comes in force from the date of filling the application for the plant patent.

RENUNCIATION TO THE PLANT PATENT
The holder may renounce to the plant patent any time during the protection period on the basis of a written declaration submitted to the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks.