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The
Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPVFR)
Authority in 2021 revoked intellectual protection granted to
PepsiCo's FC5 potato variety, saying that India's rules do not
allow a patent on seed varieties.
The authority removed PepsiCo's patent cover after Kavitha
Kuruganti, a farmers' rights activist, argued that the company
cannot claim a patent over a seed variety.
PepsiCo petitioned the Delhi High Court against the revocation
of the patent cover.
In its order dated July 5, Delhi High Court judge Navin Chawla
dismissed PepsiCo's appeal against the authority's decision.
"We are aware of the order ... and are in the process of
reviewing the same," a PepsiCo India spokesperson said in a
statement.
The U.S. snacks and drinks maker, which set up its first potato
chip plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 seed variety to a
group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company
at a fixed price.
PepsiCo has maintained that it exclusively developed the FC5
variety and registered the trait in 2016. The FC5 variety has a
lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato
chips.
In a statement, Kuruganti said: "It is good that the judgement
of Justice Navin Chawla upheld the revocation order . . ."
In 2019, PepsiCo sued some Indian farmers for cultivating the
FC5 potato variety, accusing growers of infringing its patent.
The company also sought more than 10 million rupees ($121,050)
each for alleged patent infringement.
Within months, PepsiCo withdrew lawsuits against farmers.
In its order, the Delhi High Court did not uphold accusations of
any public interest violation by PepsiCo.
PepsiCo is the second large U.S. company to face patent
infringement issues in India.
After a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker
Monsanto, now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from
some businesses in India.
($1 = 82.61 rupees)
(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Sumit Khanna; Editing by Kim
Coghill)
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