T&G Global Limited has secured another ruling in its favour from the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China, confirming the protection of its plant variety rights for the Scilate apple variety.
In late December 2025, the Supreme People's Court issued a final judgment in favour of T&G in a dispute with a Chinese defendant accused of infringing the company's plant variety rights. The ruling upholds an earlier decision by the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court issued in April 2025.
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T&G Chief Executive Gareth Edgecombe commented on the outcome:
"We welcome this ruling by the Supreme People's Court, and the commitment it shows under China's strengthened Seed Law to safeguard plant variety rights and put a stop to illegitimate production and infringement. With it being the second ruling in T&G's favour, by China's highest court, it establishes a strong judicial precedent for the handling of similar infringement disputes in China," says Mr Edgecombe.
"Over the last 20 years, T&G has invested significantly in research, development, sales, and marketing to develop our Scilate apple variety, which is sold as our premium ENVY® apple brand. Today, ENVY is the third leading apple brand in China, and we are focused on growing the brand in this important market, supported by legitimate, locally-grown licensed ENVY apples from our authorised local grower, Joy Wing Mau.
"The Court's judgement, as well as the recent Regulations on the Protection of New Plant Varieties, which give the authorities strong powers to investigate and enforce infringement of plant intellectual property rights, will benefit plant breeders, growers, customers and the horticulture sector, and provide T&G with further confidence to continue investing in China knowing our intellectual property is well protected."
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The infringement occurred in Shandong Province, China's main apple-producing region, and involved the unauthorised production and propagation of Scilate plant materials, as well as the online and offline sale of fruit harvested from those materials. The products were promoted using branding similar to ENVY, with the defendant attempting to benefit from the reputation of the Scilate variety.
Given the scale and duration of the infringement, the court ordered the defendant to pay damages to T&G and to stop all infringement of the company's plant variety rights.
Following an earlier ruling by the Supreme People's Court in early 2025, enforcement measures have also been taken in Gansu Province, resulting in the court-supervised destruction of a large number of illegally planted trees.
"With T&G and our Chinese legal team having built up considerable experience in collecting, tracing and analysing sources of infringement and preparing litigation cases, we are well set up to continue to pursue enforcement of our intellectual property rights," Mr Edgecombe says.
© T&G GlobalFor more information:
Adrienne Sharp
T&G Global Limited
Tel: +64 27 801 5534
Email: [email protected]
www.tandg.global
