10 / SEEDWORLD.COM SEPTEMBER 2018 A closer look at the “Sherlock Holmes” concept in European infringements matters. Hedwich Teunissen CSI IN THE WORLD OF PLANTS PLANT BREEDING IS a global and highly innovative activ- ity. Companies invest heavily in the creation of new varieties; the average annual R&D investment mounts to 20-25 percent of net sales. To ensure the return on investment and to stimulate new innovation, a strong Plant Breeders’ Right (PBR) system is needed. However, putting in place good regulations and a strong intellectual property (IP) rights system for plants cannot rule out piracy in the world of plants. Therefore, it is crucial to have good instruments and procedures to enforce your rights. How to Effectively Enforce Your Plant Breeders’ Rights? Titleholders are responsible for the maintenance of their IP rights. Often, in Europe, this very specialized task of checking the market for infringing plant material is out-sourced to part- ners such as the Anti-Infringement Bureau (AIB) for vegeta- bles, Breeders Trust for field crops or Royalty Administration International (RAI) for vegetatively propagated crops. These partners act like police officers and try to prevent and locate piracy by inspecting growers and licensees regularly. When they detect something suspicious, they try to safeguard the poten- tial evidence. This is a serious challenge and often requires an approval of the judge to collect the suspected plant material. Several kinds of piracy can be distinguished as acts that violate the PBR of a protected variety: 1) illegal vegetative repro- duction of grafted PBR crops. 2) reproduction of seeds of open- pollinated PBR crops; misuse of a popular variety to sell plants or seeds of inferior quality using this name. 3) F2 production of PBR hybrids. 4) theft of parental lines and unauthorized sale of F1 hybrids. An Accredited, independent Expert The Netherlands Inspection Service for Horticulture, known locally as Naktuinbouw, as an independent autonomous public In 2004, Naktuinbouw established a laboratory for variety identification using genotyping technologies.