A grower in the Spanish town of Lepe has been convicted of a crime against industrial property because of the unlawful reproduction of 800 copies of the protected blueberry variety Snowchaser. The producer did this with the knowledge that he lacked the necessary authorization from Rústicas del Guadalquivir S.L., which is the exclusive licensor in Spain of certain blueberries varieties, including the Snowchaser.
The Court of First Instance number 2 of Ayamonte issued the ruling on 25 May, 2017, condemning him to jail, removing his right to passive suffrage and forcing him to pay a 1,464 Euro fine.
In this regard, Antonio Villarroel, head of Geslive, said in a statement that the falsification of the identity of plant varieties that are prepared for sowing has "serious consequences" for breeders of new plant varieties, "which are suffering million dollar losses each year, and also for the whole sector."
"This massive fraud constitutes a serious unfair competition, not only for authorised seed producers, but also for producers who duly pay the fees for the use of those seeds," he stressed.
Developing new plant varieties and making them available to growers is only possible if there is on-going investment in costly research programs; therefore, to sustain these improvement and development programs it is vital to protect the results of the work of the breeders and respect their industrial property rights.
