52 / 260
50
Borneo Bulletin Yearbook 2021
research and development into new breeding
techniques. It also encourages the development
of new and bene cial plant varieties for use by
farmers and consumers, advancing the society’s
development in agriculture, horticulture and
forestry.
In addition to preventing others from using
the variety without permission, the protection
allows plant breeders to gain an exclusive
right to produce for sale and sell propagating
material of the plant variety.
A plant variety is given a protection term of up
to 25 years, subject to the payment of annual
renewal fees. A plant variety must ful l four
conditions to be eligible for protection in Brunei.
Firstly, the variety must be novel (new) and thus
has not been sold or disposed of without the
consent of the breeder. Secondly, the variety
must be distinct, meaning that it is clearly
distinguishable from any other variety whose
existence is a matter of common knowledge at
the time of the ling of the application. The third
condition is that the variety must be uniform in
its relevant characteristics. Lastly, the variety
must be stable, meaning that the relevant
characteristics must remain unchanged
after repeated propagation. All plant genera
and species are protectable under the Plant
Varieties Protection Order 2015.
A plant variety registered with BruIPO is only
protected in Brunei. Applicants will need to le
directly at the foreign IP of ce of the jurisdiction
where they intend to protect their plant variety.
IP cooperation and development
Since the implementation of Brunei’s
indigenous patent system in 2012, the Danish
Patent and Trademark Of ce (DKPTO) has been
acting as BruIPO’s examiner. On August 29, 2017,
BruIPO and DKPTO signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) on a referral arrangement to
conduct substantive searching and examination
of patents. The MoU signi ed the continuation of
collaborative efforts between the two of ces in
the area of patents for a further ve years.
BruIPO has also signed agreements with
the Japan Patent Of ce (JPO) to enhance
cooperation in the IP eld. On May 24, 2015,
BruIPO signed a memorandum of cooperation
(MoC) with JPO.
Within the ambit of the MoC, JPO has
supported BruIPO in developing its capacity
through the training and dispatch of experts,
as well as through the compilation of formality
examination guidelines for patents.
On August 28, 2017, BruIPO signed an
agreement with JPO to kick-start a new patent
examination cooperation initiative called the
Patent Prosecution Highway Plus (PPH+).
The PPH+ is a patent examination cooperation
work-sharing initiative by JPO. It aims to
accelerate the examination process for
corresponding patent applications from Japan
and those led in participating IP of ces.
OnMarch 27, 2018, anMoC was signed between
the Korean Intellectual Property Of ce (KIPO)
and the heads of ASEAN IP of ces including
BruIPO to cooperate and work towards the
development of IP systems.
The agreement aims to meet the goals of
the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by
transforming ASEAN into an innovative and
competitive region through the use of IP and
ensuring that the region remains an active
player in the international IP community.
On March 11, 2019, an MoU was signed
between Brunei and the Republic of Korea on
the Recognition of KIPO as an International
Searching
Authority
and
International
Preliminary Examining Authority (ISA/IPEA)
under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for
BruIPO.
Brunei joins TMview and DesignView
As of January 23, 2019, BruIPO has made its
trademark and design data available to the
TMview and DesignView search tools. Over
46,000 trademarks and 190 designs were
added to TMview and DesignView respectively
by BruIPO.
As of June 29, 2020, DesignView contains
data from 72 participating of ces, providing
information and access to over 16 million
designs across the European Union and
beyond.
DesignView went live in 2012 and has served
over ve million searches from 163 different
countries. The United Kingdom, Germany and
China are among the most frequent users.
TMview provides information and access
to over 59 million trademarks. The tool has
served more than 70 million searches from
169 different countries since its introduction
in 2010, with Spain, China and Germany among
the most frequent users.