in as many countries as desired without waiting for a result from previous applications. Protection only applies in the country in which it was granted, so there are no reciprocal protections unless otherwise agreed by the countries in question. There is a right of priority, and the application date of the first application filed in any country is the date used in determining priority. The rights conferred to the breeder are similar to other intellectual property rights, such as patents, even though there are important differences. Their purpose is to create a temporary monopoly on a plant variety, to allow its breeder to redeem the costs he invested to create this innovation - typically the creation of a new variety takes 10 to 15 years and implies a substantial investment. The breeder must authorize any actions taken in propagating the new variety, including selling and marketing, importing and exporting, keeping stock of, and reproducing. This means that the breeder can, for example, require a licensing fee for any company interested in reproducing his variety for sale. The breeder also has the right to name the new variety, based on certain guidelines that prevent the name from being deliberately misleading or too similar to another variety's name. In the 1991 convention there are four exceptions to the rights of the breeder owning a plant variety: Breeders exception: Even if a variety is protected it can be freely used by an other breeder as a source for new varieties, without the authorization of the owner of the original variety. With the introduction of the 1991 convention this exception has been narrowed down to exclude "essentially derived varieties". Farmers exception: In the 1978 Convention the reproduction of seeds, as well as their exchange with other farmers is implicitly allowed, because the exclusive right of the breeder only extend to the production for the purpose of marketing. With the 1991 Convention the scope of breeders rights were expanded to include the multiplication of a variety. However, there still is an optional exception that can be included in national legislation to allow reproduction of seeds by farmers, but only "within reasonable limits and subject to the safeguarding of the legitimate interests of the breeder" which practically means that the farmers is obliged to pay license fees to the breeder. The only member of UPOV 91 still allowing the free reproduction of seeds for some species