The Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act (PVPSA), revised at the end of 2020, was the downfall of a man who had been propagating and selling a variety of popular muscat grapes (“Shine Muscat”) that are registered and protected by that act in Japan. The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) reported June 28, 2021 that police have begun investigation on this suspect.
The accused man apparently bought a seedling of Shine Muscat legally, and then proceeded to graft its sprouts onto root stocks and then sell these online. NHK reports that the man was selling his seedlings at about half of the market price. When questioned, he claimed he was unaware that selling such protected plant varieties without permission from the developer (in this case, the national corporation National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, NARO) is illegal under the PVPSA. NARO apparently spent thirty-three years perfecting the Shine Muscat variety, which is greatly popular in Japan and other parts of Asia.
Furthermore, since April, the PVPSA has declared export of such registered plant varieties illegal. Police are investigating whether or not any of the seedlings the accused sold made it into the hands of exporters, in which case, there could be greater repercussions from this incident.
We do not know if the accused knew or not of his infringement of the new laws, but this publicized issue will likely deter others from propagating favorite varieties of plants in Japan for sale, perhaps leading to less leakage of this quasi-intellectual property.
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Contact: Taro Yaguchi
Sources
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). “高級ぶどう シャインマスカット苗 無許可出品の疑いで書類送検 [Documents on suspected unauthorized sale of seedlings of high-quality grapes, Shine Muscats, sent to prosecutors].” https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210628/k10013107601000.html June 28, 2021. Accessed July 1, 2021.
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