Italy: Rijk Zwaan wins landmark case against illegal reproduction
Rijk Zwaan has been fighting infringement of Ballerina RZ since 2005, when sales representatives from Rijk Zwaan Italia noticed a similar-looking variety in the market: Criolla, sold by Agriseeds. Rijk Zwaan suspected that Ballerina, which is protected by a plant breeders’ right, was being reproduced without permission and sold under a different name. After Rijk Zwaan’s own DNA tests had confirmed this suspicion, the company initiated legal proceedings against Agriseeds on 23 June 2006.
In January 2011, the Italian court finally decided that Agriseeds had indeed infringed Rijk Zwaan’s rights, and the company was entitled to damages. During the subsequent case to decide the damage award, Agriseeds was deemed to have made an unjustified profit of 205,701 Euro by selling Criolla seeds. On 25 October 2012, the court ultimately ordered Agriseeds to return said unjustified profits to Rijk Zwaan, increased of monetary re-evaluation, interests, legal costs and costs of the court experts involved.
On behalf of Rijk Zwaan, company lawyer Marian Suelmann says that she is very happy with this result, especially since the number of illegal reproductions of vegetable crops seems to be on the rise. “Cases like this are undoubtedly complicated and time-consuming, but this example shows that fighting infringement in court can indeed be successful,” states Suelmann.
Rijk Zwaan hopes that this positive outcome will motivate other seed companies to pursue infringement cases too. Suelmann continues: “We have a common goal in protecting plant breeders’ rights, to ensure that seed companies are rewarded for their investments, which in turn are necessary in order to continue developing new and improved plant varieties.”
For more information
Ton van Leeuwen
Rijk Zwaan
Tel: +31 (0) 174 532 487