What growers, packhouses and marketers need to know for 2026 planning.
Australia has several premium apple‑growing regions, including the Adelaide Hills, Tasmania’s Huon Valley and key Victorian districts such as Harcourt and the Goulburn Valley. But the way apples are commercialised is changing. More fruit is now sold through “managed” or branded variety programs, where the variety itself, the brand and the quality system are tightly linked. That shift is powered by Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR): the legal framework that lets breeders and program owners control who can grow a variety and how it enters the market.
Snapshot: three practical shifts businesses are dealing with
First, access matters as much as agronomy. For many premium apples, you can’t simply buy trees. Instead, you need an active licence, an authorised nursery pathway, and program rules that cover how fruit is packed, branded and sold.
Second, compliance now runs through the whole supply chain. PBR is mainly about controlling propagating material (trees, budwood and other material used to make more trees), but in certain circumstances the law can also reach harvested fruit, and even products made from that fruit. That means packhouses and marketers, not just growers, have a role in getting it right.[1]
Third, enforcement and validity challenges are not hypothetical. Recent overseas decisions show that courts will award meaningful remedies for illegal propagation, and trial and sale records from long ago can still determine whether a right is valid today.[2][3]
PBR in plain English
A Plant Breeder’s Right is an intellectual property right over a new plant variety. In Australia, a granted PBR gives the owner the exclusive commercial right to do (or authorise others to do) a defined set of acts with propagating material, such as producing/reproducing it, conditioning it for propagation, selling it, importing/exporting it, and stocking it for those purposes.[1]
If you’re ever unsure whether a particular apple variety is protected in Australia, a practical first step is to search IP Australia’s public PBR database (PBR Search), available at https://ipsearch.ipaustralia.gov.au/pbr/.
For trees and vines, PBR protection lasts up to 25 years. That long timeframe matches the reality that orchard investments are multi‑decade decisions.[1][4]
Can PBR reach the fruit? Sometimes. If propagating material was produced or reproduced without the owner’s authorisation, and the owner did not have a reasonable opportunity to exercise their rights in relation to that propagating material, the law can treat harvested material (e.g. apples) as if it were propagating material. If products are then made from that harvested material, the law can extend again to those products in defined circumstances.[1]
What about “sports” and look-alikes? Apples are famous for colour mutations (“sports”). Australia’s PBR system deals with near-copies through the concept of an essentially derived variety (EDV). Legally, a variety is essentially derived from an initial variety if it is predominantly derived from it, retains the essential characteristics resulting from the initial variety’s genotype, and does not exhibit any important (as distinct from cosmetic) differences.[1][5]
What this looks like on the ground
The easiest way to see “PBR in action” is to look at a tightly-managed variety program. For example, Lenswood (Lenswood Cold Stores Co‑operative Society) is Australia’s sole official licensee for ROCKIT™ apples and coordinates growers across Australia.[6] Programs like this typically combine: (1) PBR over the variety, (2) trade marks and brand rules, and (3) quality and traceability requirements so fruit is consistent and marketable.
For growers and packhouses, the key operational takeaway is simple: treat variety compliance like food safety compliance. If your budwood pathway, planting records or carton traceability are weak, you can end up with fruit you can’t lawfully market or fruit that triggers a dispute when it enters a branded program.
Two international cases worth noting
China (Scilate / ENVY™): In March 2025, China’s Supreme People’s Court upheld a decision involving the Scilate apple variety (marketed as ENVY™). The original 2023 ruling (upheld on appeal) found infringement through unlawful cultivation and sale of Scilate plant material and apples harvested from the illegally-planted material, awarded RMB 3.3 million (AUD $680,000) in damages, and required the infringer to remove the illegal plant material.[2]
European Union (Cripps Pink / Cripps Red): In September 2025, the EU General Court dismissed an action by the rights holder (WAAA) and the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) that sought to overturn a Board of Appeal decision. That Board decision had remitted the matter to the CPVO and ordered it to open nullity proceedings because new evidence raised “serious doubts” about novelty. The practical lesson is that “old facts” about trials, disposals and early sales can remain legally decisive years later, so record‑keeping is part of IP risk management.[3]
What shoppers will notice in 2026 (and why businesses should care)
Consumers are seeing more apples sold as brands rather than as generic varieties. In Australia, examples commonly mentioned in consumer‑facing material include Jazz™, Bravo®, Kalei®, Eve™, Modì™, Envy™, Rockit™, Kanzi® and Yello™.[7]
It’s also worth watching how branded supply windows are communicated to the public. For instance, the Cosmic Crisp® program’s Australian FAQ states that the apples sold out for 2025 and are expected back in stores from July 2026 as volumes increase.[9] Those kinds of public statements influence retailer planning, promotional timing, and when consumers will actively look for particular brands.
A 2026 readiness checklist for orchards and packhouses
Below is a short, practical checklist that assists in making managed‑variety programs run smoothly. It’s business guidance, not legal advice— we recommend that you obtain tailored advice for specific contracts or disputes.
To discuss plant breeder’s rights, trade marks and branding, patents or registered designs for your horticultural business, contact Madderns. We can help with IP strategy, filing and prosecution, and brand and variety protection planning for managed programs. If you need contract drafting/negotiation or a dispute handled, we can refer you to a trusted solicitor with the right experience.
| Check | What “good” looks like |
| Authorised trees and budwood | Nursery invoices, budwood chain‑of‑custody, and licence documents match what is planted in each block. |
| Know the program rules | You have the brand’s pack specs, maturity indices, packaging rules and marketing windows on hand before planting scale. |
| Contracts reflect the ‘cascade’ | Grower, packhouse and customer contracts anticipate what happens if unauthorised material or fruit is detected (including holds, recalls, and reporting). |
| Plan for sports and EDVs | If a sport appears, you have a process to notify the program owner and manage testing, royalties and marketing positions. |
| Traceability is fast | You can trace a carton back to orchard block/row quickly, and you can show where each pick ended up (domestic lines, export, processing). |
| Record‑keeping is disciplined | You retain trial notes, consents, disposal/sales records, and planting maps, because novelty and infringement arguments often turn on detail. |
| Market claims are consistent | Your marketing language matches what you are licensed to sell (brand, variety name, origin claims, packaging assets). |
| ‘IP hygiene’ at the gate | No unverified plant material enters the business; rogue trees are identified, quarantined and dealt with early. |
References
- Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (Cth)
s 11 General nature of PBRs;
s 12 Extension of PBR to cover essentially derived varieties;
s 14 Extension to harvested material;
s 22 Duration of PBR.
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04783/2024-10-14/2024-10-14/text/original/pdf
- FreshFruitPortal, “China court upholds T&G’s apple rights” (12 March 2025). https://www.freshfruitportal.com/news/2025/03/12/china-court-upholds-tgs-apple-rights/
- EUR‑Lex, Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 24 September 2025, Case T‑159/24 (WAAA v CPVO – Teak Enterprises), CELEX: 62024TJ0159. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62024TJ0159
- IP Australia, “What are plant breeder’s rights?”. https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/plant-breeders-rights/what-are-plant-breeders-rights
- IPA Manuals (IP Australia), PBR Manual of Practice and Procedure: “7. Essentially Derived Varieties (EDVs)” (Date Published 2 April 2025). https://manuals.ipaustralia.gov.au/pbr/7.-essentially-derived-varieties-edvs
- Lenswood Apples (Lenswood Cold Stores Co‑operative Society), “Rockit™”. https://lenswoodcoop.com.au/nfga/rockit/
- Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL), “Varieties” (consumer list of newer branded apples). https://apal.org.au/consumer/varieties/
- Montague Farms, “KISSABEL® Apples”. https://montaguefarms.com.au/kissabel-apples/
- Cosmic Crisp® Australia, “FAQ” (availability statement for July 2026). https://www.cosmiccrisp.com.au/faq/
