Invalidating the registration of ownership of the mandarin variety Nadorcott, one of the most appreciated in the last decade, would mean that the production and marketing of this citrus fruit would be free, hitting a business worth about 350 million Euro per season for those who are in possession of the patent. After Community protection was confirmed for the Tango mandarin, also registered as Tang Gold in Spain, Eurosemillas, the company holding its rights, is determined to take the offensive in its conflict with the Nadorcott, defending that they are two different varieties.
The Community Plant Variety Office has started to process an application to invalidate the registration of the Nadorcott, of Moroccan origin, based primarily on its "lack of novelty." Such an action was already carried out in South Africa a few months ago, when an individual producer and Eurosemillas started their own respective actions with the goal of having the variety declared free and make it possible for it to be grown both in Europe and in South Africa without any restrictions or permissions from the breeder. For this reason, there is much at stake in this confrontation.
Its commercial value would amount to 350 million Euro but, due to the sale of rights, the revenue obtained by growers who paid the royalties (about 700 registered) could exceed 50 million Euro. Therefore, if the variety was declared free, there would be numerous claims for repayment.
Basically, the action is based on the claim that the Nadorcott, long before it was exploded as a protected variety, was already freely cultivated under the name of Afourer. In fact, in Morocco it is still called by that name, as already argued in February 2015 by the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Valencia, together with Ava-Asaja and La Unió de Llauradors. The claim reached the European Court of First Instance, which eventually ruled against them in 2008. From 2008, the Club of Protected Plant Varieties (CVVP), controlled by companies like Martinavarro, Ginés and Cañamás, among others, started operating and took control of the management of the variety, making it undoubtedly one of the most profitable in the history of the citrus industry.
With the arrival of the Tango in the market, the CVVP defended the interests of its producer members by presenting repeated legal action to try to halt its spread. According to Eurosemillas, "the CVVP has not yet achieved a single favourable statement or resolution, but only partial victories."
Today, after two years of successive increases in the issuance of new planting rights, the value of the Moroccan variety has depreciated and is no longer the most profitable in the market. This is due, among other reasons, to the emergence of other late protected mandarins, such as the Orri and Tango, which unlike the Nadorcott, have no seeds and consequently do not pollinate or cause the appearance of seeds in neighbouring plantations. "These are two essential features that have a high agronomic and commercial value, as demonstrated by the high prices reached in Europe and the US," note sources from Eurosemillas.
Appeals underway
Eurosemillas denies that the appeal, currently under study at the headquarters of the CPVO, recalls the one presented by the cooperatives. "The reality is that, in the case of FECOAV, there were no rulings made on the reasons for invalidity invoked and these were dismissed for the Federation's lack of active legitimation," affirms Eurosemillas.
The legal services of this firm stated that they have "original documents from the University of California which would confirm the lack of novelty, as material for the propagation and commercial exploitation of the Nadorcott would have been handed over by the breeder to the entity and several Moroccan producers after the variety had already been marketed in Europe."
Source: Diario Levante