Intellectual Property Rights in Horticulture

Creative ideas and expressions of the human mind that have commercial value and are entitled to the legal protection of a property right. The major legal mechanisms for protecting intellectual property (IP) are copyrights, patents, and trademarks. IP rights enable owners to selectively give access to their intellectual property and to protect it from unauthorized use. The TRIPS Agreement establishes minimum levels of protection that each government has to provide to the IP of fellow WTO Members. The Government of India implemented a series of policy initiatives that have energized and focused R&D on generating new knowledge that could lead to viable technologies and processes of agricultural importance. Horticulture is an important sector which link Indian agriculture and farming community to global trading opportunities. Horticulture is also unique in that it directly addresses food and nutritional security issues in both urban and rural areas of the developing world. A strengthened horticulture sector can have a positive impact on global development. The present book addresses the potential role and importance of an appropriate system of intellectual property right in sustaining innovation and technological change in important areas of horticulture. Management of IP in horticulture sector is an important step for making available technologies to all stake holders. Hence the book on "Intellectual Property Rights in Horticulture" is timely and covers all aspects of 1PR.