Public-private organisation to specialise in managing plant breeders’ rights
A new organisation will be created in Japan to help protect and promote the country’s newly developed fruit and vegetable varieties.
According to a report from Nikkei Aisa, a public-private organisation will be established around August to safeguard fresh produce IP developed in Japan and prevent the unauthorised overseas cultivation seen with Shine Muscat grapes.
The body will defend public institutions’ and prefectures’ rights to seeds and seedlings both domestically and internationally, monitor unauthorised foreign cultivation and take legal action if infringement is found.
In addition to protecting plant breeders’ rights, the body will help market Japan’s innovations, assisting breeders with cultivation, selling seedlings to growers and other IP management organisations abroad. Royalties will be returned to the developing organisations to be invested in new varieties. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said this will be Japan’s first organisation to specialise in managing plant breeders’ rights.
Development of new varieties is often carried out by public research institutions, which are constrained by budget and personnel numbers, making it difficult to enforce breeders’ rights.
IP infringement has been a long-time pain point for Japan’s fresh produce industry, with locally-bred fruit leaked abroad. A 2025 agriculture ministry survey of online stores of seed and seedling companies in China and South Korea revealed roughly 50 varieties of Japanese-developed strawberries, citrus fruits and grapes.
After Shine Muscat seedlings were leaked to China and Korea, the fruit’s estimated cultivation area in China as of 2022 had grown to 73,700ha – nearly 30 times that of Japan. Estimated annual losses, based on license fees, exceed ¥10bn (US$62.4mn).
