Boult Wade Tennant
Service » Global plant breeders’ rights and national listings

We have a growing practice and specialist expertise in supporting major horticultural and biopharma clients in relation to plant breeders’ rights and national listings. The team is equipped to assist clients in national listings for plant varieties within the UK as well as obtaining rights across Europe. We also offer expert advice on the potential infringement risks associated with plant variety rights held by third parties.

 

What we do

Secure and preserve
  • We have significant experience in filing and prosecuting applications for plant breeders’ rights (known as plant variety rights in some countries) and national listings in the UK for our clients.
  • In this regard, we regularly act before the Plant Variety Rights Office of the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and have filed many applications using UPOV PRISMA.
  • We are regularly appointed as agent for existing UK plant breeders’ rights, particularly those created when the UK left the EU, and based upon former corresponding Community plant variety rights.
  • We are also able to coordinate the filing of plant variety right and national listing applications outside of the UK, including in the EU.

Technical toolkits

Services

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Patents

Our European, UK and German experts advise on the creation, exploitation and enforcement of IP rights across a wide range of sectors. They provide creative IP solutions and outstanding client service.

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Trade marks

Our highly skilled experts are experienced negotiators and have particular expertise in the management of large portfolios; searching and watching; domain name recovery; and trading standards and customs work.

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Designs

The team can advise clients across a wide range of industries on matters of design law and practice. They combine their commercial knowledge with legal expertise to provide high quality advice that is always pragmatic.

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Insights

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IP updates
EPO vs UPC: Inventive step

The UPC Court of Appeal has clarified its inventive step framework. We compare the UPC’s approach with the EPO’s Problem-Solution analysis, highlighting key similarities and differences.

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IP updates
LEGO A/S V. EUIPO – Round 2 – Who is the informed user?

An analysis of T-628/24, where the General Court upheld revocation of Lego’s EU design for a modified plate, questioning how informed users and subtle design differences are assessed in modular systems.

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IP updates
What’s in a name? Brooklyn Beckham and celebrity names as trade marks

The Brooklyn Beckham trade mark raises key questions about who controls a celebrity’s own name, the limits of the “own name” defence and the long-term risks of name-based trade mark registrations.

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IP updates
Trends in therapeutic innovation

We reflect on a year of life sciences innovation, highlighting Clarivate’s Drugs to Watch 2025, emerging therapy trends, AI-driven R&D and the evolving patent strategies shaping the sector.

INSIGHTS

Patents