T&G Global has welcomed the recent Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China judgement upholding an earlier landmark ruling regarding protecting its Scilate apple plant variety rights.
This verdict upheld the earlier ruling by the Lanzhou Intermediate Court of Gansu Province in November 2023, which found the defendant had infringed T&G’s intellectual property rights by unlawfully cultivating and selling Scilate variety plant material and apples harvested from the illegally planted materials.
The Court awarded T&G RMB 3.3 million, recognising and accepting the application to award punitive damages, and required the infringer to remove the illegal material.
T&G Global Chief Executive Gareth Edgecombe said this was an important decision in protecting intellectual property rights in China and will benefit plant breeders, growers, consumers, customers, and the horticultural sector.
“This significant ruling by the Supreme People’s Court shows China’s strong commitment under its newly strengthened Seed Law to safeguard plant variety rights and stop illegitimate production and infringement. It has laid a solid foundation for our future enforcement actions,” said Edgecombe.
In China, Joy Wing Mau was licensed to grow and sell Scilate apples domestically commercially, which it has sold as its premium ENVY apple brand. With this judgment, Chinese consumers can confidently purchase legitimate, locally grown ENVY apples.
At the same time, it will help develop and grow the country’s horticulture sector through the licensing of high-value varieties supported by modern growing systems.
Edgecombe said that it has taken years of investment in research and development to develop new plant varieties, combined with extensive sales and marketing activities. This ruling by China’s highest Court has given confidence to horticultural businesses to invest in China, knowing that their intellectual property will be well protected.
China has been a significant and growing market for T&G and its premium brands. T&G is committed to introducing new plant varieties that benefit Chinese growers, consumers, and customers and help advance the country’s agriculture sector.
“We, together with our variety management subsidiary, Venturefruit Global, have a significant pipeline of new apple, pear and berry varieties which we want to license and grow in China, and following this successful ruling, we look forward to progressing our growth plans.”
T&G’s Venturefruit subsidiary has led all plant protection activities on behalf of the Group. It vigorously protected T&G’s premium varieties with plant variety rights, breeding rights, patents, trademarks, and copyright.
As part of this, Venturefruit will continue to proactively seek cooperation with the relevant authorities in China to combat infringement activities and safeguard the commercial interests of itself and its licensees.
This judgment from the Supreme People’s Court will serve as a strong deterrent to future infringements. The infringer must stop all infringement of T&G’s intellectual property rights by cutting out the illegally propagated plant material.
It was also noted that an infringement claim was extended to the Scilate fruit as harvested materials; this position aligned with the recently strengthened Seed Law in the People’s Republic of China.
With the appeal dismissed, T&G will be entitled to file a new lawsuit and seek further compensation for the rights infringement since the initial 2023 ruling.
