Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 5228 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM Since its inception, CIOPORA’s mis- sion has been clear: to create an associa- tion of companies and organizations with the shared belief in the value of IP and the importance of efficient IP protection for the sustainable development of the hor- ticulture sector and society at large. The goals and objectives of CIOPORA are: • to group the breeders of asexually reproduced ornamental and fruit vari- eties at an international level; • to promote the understanding of the necessity of international protec- tion of the IP of the breeders, and to encourage further development of the protection of IP; • to defend and represent the breeders’ legitimate interests and particularly to work for the development, improve- ment and unification of national and international regulations for the protection of breeders’ rights and of the laws for the enforcement of such rights; • to elaborate and transfer information about the laws on the protection of IP to the association’s members. These goals and objectives, as defined by the bylaws of CIOPORA, create a struc- tured foundation for the association. MEMBERSHIP Contrary to other international associ- ations such as the International Seed Federation (ISF), CIOPORA does not mainly consist of national or regional associations but rather of individual com- panies. Today, the association consists of 110 members, mainly breeders, but also national breeder associations, IP lawyers, and consultants from more than 25 coun- tries worldwide. While our association was founded and built primarily by ornamental breeders, CIOPORA’s membership by fruit breeders has surged in the last few years. Our members are enterprises of all sizes; however, the majority of CIOPORA members are small-to-medium sized com- panies. These innovative plant breeders are often family-owned, in their third or fourth generation. Directly and indirectly via its members, CIOPORA represents approximately 300 breeders worldwide on IP matters. THE STRUCTURE OF CIOPORA The highest governing body in CIOPORA meets at its annual general meeting (AGM), at which all decisions about the general direction of the association and the IP positions are made. Between these annual events, the control of the affairs and property of the association and the implementation of the decisions of the AGM is led by the CIOPORA board. An executive committee guides the day-to- day operations of CIOPORA’s four-person administrative staff led by the secretary general. CIOPORA’s “Working Groups” are small committees of individuals who work deeply in the matters of (currently) DUS, molecular techniques, essentially derived varieties and patents. These committees meet regularly and prepare the first drafts of possible IP Positions, which then have to be approved by the board and finally by the AGM. Crop sections, of which CIOPORA currently has four — Cut Rose (called IRBA), Fruit, Carnation and Gypsophila — are committees made up of breeders within the same species. These commit- tees meet regularly, once at the CIOPORA AGM and often in conjunction with inter- national trade shows, to uncover issues within their crop-specific communities. The representation of CIOPORA in technical matters lies in the hands of the two head technical experts (HTEs) for ornamentals and fruits, which are assisted by vice-HTEs and crop leaders, who are experts in specific crops. WHERE CIOPORA STEPS IN The other mission of CIOPORA is pro- motion of IP and advocacy. This takes repeated efforts, around the globe, on a consistent basis. The foundation of this advocacy is to represent the interests of breeders before the national and suprana- tional policymaking authorities — those that ultimately create the laws by which the players in the horticulture chain must comply. On the international level, our main counterpart is UPOV, but CIOPORA is also active in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). CIOPORA is one of the oldest and most-in- volved observers in the administrative, legal and technical bodies of UPOV, which allows the association to actively partic- ipate in the decision-making process of this organization. Some still see CIOPORA as a European organization, but this is not true. While CIOPORA has its roots in Europe, it is a truly worldwide associa- tion, with members and activities on all five continents. Of course, due to its size and structure, CIOPORA cannot be active all over the world with the same intensity and it must set priorities. Therefore, on a national level, CIOPORA members iden- tify countries of particular interest, those where current or future business lies and those with PBR regimes that need signif- icant improvement. CIOPORA then seeks stronger engagement in these target ter- ritories by establishing a dialogue with authorities in charge, running an analysis of the current PBR regime and enforce- ment options, consulting the local legal experts and reporting our findings to our members. We carry out regular member surveys to identify the countries of special interest. SHARING KNOWLEDGE Advocacy is a moot effort without pro- moting the importance of IP to the actual players in the industry. CIOPORA works consistently to raise the level of aware- ness about general IP in horticulture as well as the most-current issues affecting the industry via direct communication to members, such as our IP Chapters news- letter and email updates, as well as public communication from speaking engage- ments at conferences around the world and the annual CIOPORA Chronicle. In addition to communication, CIOPORA has turned its focus to edu- cation with the 2015 launch of the first educational series focused solely on IP Education for the horticulture industry — the CIOPORA Academy. In order to increase the level of knowledge on IP in horticulture in the entire production and trade chain, the CIOPORA Academy was launched in December 2015. This ongoing educational program provides high-level knowledge to all players in the horticulture chain via small-group workshops led by intel- lectual property experts. In its first year of existence, three workshops were held in The Netherlands, Portugal and the U.S., attracting 50 participants. The next workshop will take place on April 24, 2017, in Toronto, Canada, prior to CIOPORA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). ACCEPTANCE OF IP PROTECTION FOR PLANTS IS ALARMINGLY LOW The acceptance of IP protection varies depending on the industry and product. Take, for example, the copyrights of musi- cal artists. Since Metallica famously, and successfully, sued file-sharing platform Napster in 2000, it has become recognized by the general public that the IP of musi- cians deserves to be acknowledged and protected. For plants — particularly in agriculture — the acceptance of IP pro- tection is alarmingly low and it is perma- nently challenged, not only by NGOs. Surprisingly, even some breeder organizations seem to not be in full favour of strong and effective IP protection for plant varieties, not even in the form of