Strawberry researchers sued by University of California
The two scientists claim in a $45 million lawsuit of their own that the university has unfairly kept some of their work locked in a freezer and is depriving the world of a better strawberry.
Some farmers in the No. 1 strawberry-growing state are worried the battle is going to stymie research and cause them to lose their competitive edge. California last year produced 1.6 million tons of strawberries valued at roughly $2 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"It doesn't do anybody any good for the university to keep these strawberry plants in a box," said Rick McKnight, an attorney for the two former professors. "This is hurting the California strawberry industry in a major way."
A group of 60 independent strawberry growers – representing one-third of the planted acreage of California’s strawberry industry – are siding with Shaw, and petitioning state leaders to resolve a messy legal dispute between two respected agricultural researchers and the University of California, Davis.
The coalition sent letters to UC Davis, the UC Board of Regents, and the California Strawberry Commission, encouraging the state to allow the now-retired researchers, Douglas Shaw and Kirk Larson, to continue breeding activities with a newly formed private entity.
The letters come less than two weeks before the start of a trial between California Berry Cultivars (CBC) and UC Davis. Shaw is revered in the strawberry industry, having developed 24 new types of strawberry plants – nearly one a year – that have allowed growers to double production in addition to dramatically improving the quality and flavor of the fruit. An estimated 65 percent of the acreage of California’s $2.6 billion strawberry crop is planted with varieties developed by Shaw and Larson.
The growers are aghast that UC Davis is portraying Shaw in legal filings as a researcher driven by greed. During their tenure at UC Davis, Shaw and Larson generated nearly $100 million in royalties for the university, shared nearly half of their own royalties – hundreds of thousands of dollars – with co-workers, and contributed more than $9 million of their own royalties to help fund the breeding program. Shaw, growers say, has been a singular force in improving the fortunes of all of California’s strawberry growers.
The university accuses the researchers of patent infringement and violating an oath they signed not to enrich themselves by taking or acquiring plants, seeds and other biological material and continuing their research using descendants of plants they developed at UC Davis.
The scientists say they own the intellectual property at issue, and they accuse the university of locking up some of their plants and destroying hundreds of others, wiping out years of research.
Heading into trial, a federal judge recently scolded both the researchers and the university for their behavior and said that each side can expect to be held financially liable at trial.
source: agdaily.com, abcnews.co.com
