The Delhi High Court has given relief to PepsiCo by setting aside an order revoking the food and beverage giant’s registration (patent) of plant variety FL 2027, a special potato variety which is used for making Lay’s chips
A division benchcomprising of Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Dharmesh Sharma have set aside the judgment of a single-judge upheld the statutory authority’s decision to revoke PepsiCo’s registration of FL 2027.
The division bench rejected f The plea by farmers rights activist Kavitha Kuruganti to restrain PepsiCo from suing farmers on grounds of infringement was nullifed by the court
The activist had also sought directions to the company to uphold farmer’s rights as recognised under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 (PPVFR Act).
The Court said that it could find no material to substantiate the allegations that PepsiCo had sued farmers in Gujarat to intimidate them or that registration of these suits was contrary to public interest.
The authority constituted under the PPVFR Act were instructed by the court to consider afresh PepsiCo’s application for renewal of the registration.
The application was rejected solely on the ground that registration of FL 2027 had been revoked.
The Bench ordered that the appeal of PepsiCo, LPA 590/2023 is allowed. The impugned judgment and order dated 05 July 2023 shall consequently stand set aside to the extent indicated above. We consequently also set aside the order of the Authority dated 03 December 2021 and the letter issued by the Authority dated 11 February 2022.
The renewal application as made by PepsiCo shall stand restored on the file of the Registrar who shall dispose of the same in accordance with law and in light of the findings recorded hereinabove,”
In the year 2019, the dispute began when a bunch of farmers from Gujarat weres sied for intellectual property right infringement as they were growing the FL 2027 potato plants.
PepsiCo said that these farmers were not under its contract to grow the FL 2027 potatoes.