Plant varieties constitute a category of intellectual property the legal status of which relates in many ways to that of patents. A plant variety may be considered distinct if it is clearly distinguishable from any other variety whose existence is a matter of common knowledge on the date of application; uniform if it is sufficiently uniform in the expression of its characteristics; and stable if it remains unchanged after repeated propagation.

At present, the protection of plant varieties is regulated in Spain by the Law 3/2000, of January 7, of the Legal System of Plant Variety Protection and in the EU by (EC) Council Regulation No. 2100/94, of July 27, on Community Plant Variety Rights.

The aforementioned Law 3/2000 has been modified by Law 3/2002, of March 12, in order to recognise Spanish Autonomous Communities as competent authorities in plant variety rights registration-related procedures.

As of October 1, 2004, the Spanish Criminal Code expressly included the counterfeiting of plant varieties, the unauthorised reproduction or multiplication thereof, and the unauthorised use of the name of said varieties as infringing Laws, which are penalised with fines, special disqualification and even prison.