SPC bolsters IP rights of seed industry

China's top court has underscored the importance of strengthening intellectual property protection in the seed industry, emphasizing the appropriate application of punitive damages in infringement cases involving new plant varieties.

The Supreme People's Court released five landmark cases involving new plant varieties on Wednesday, highlighting the need for strict penalties against serious infringements to protect seed rights, promote innovation and safeguard national food security.

The cases involve major crops such as rice, wheat and corn, which are crucial to national food security, as well as fruit and vegetable varieties, including passion fruit and blueberries, that contribute to dietary diversity. The release came ahead of World Food Day, which falls on Oct 16 each year.

In one case, a Spanish company holding plant variety rights for a blueberry variety authorized a Chinese company to manage and protect those rights in China. The Chinese company discovered that a planting base in Yunnan province was propagating and selling seedlings of the protected variety without authorization.

Established in July 2024, the planting base began advertising blueberry seedlings on social media platforms, including WeChat and Douyin, posting images of its nursery facilities and seedlings. On July 30, 2024, the Chinese company purchased seedlings suspected of infringing the variety rights, with the transaction notarized to preserve evidence.

Sales staff at the planting base referred to the variety as "Spanish 42" and acknowledged that it was being cultivated alongside other varieties. Of the 120,000 seedlings at the base, 20,000 belonged to the disputed variety. The base was unable to provide legal documentation authorizing its propagation.

Subsequent testing confirmed that the seedlings were nearly identical to the variety protected by the Spanish company's rights. The Chinese company then filed a lawsuit with the Kunming Intermediate People's Court in Yunnan.

The court found that the planting base had willfully infringed the plant variety rights by producing, propagating and selling the seedlings without permission. It also found that the base had propagated another variety without authorization, with more than 67 percent of its seedlings lacking legal provenance.

The court therefore applied punitive damages and ordered the planting base to pay 144,000 yuan ($21,519) in compensation for economic losses, along with 10,000 yuan in enforcement costs.

The planting base appealed to the SPC, which rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.

The SPC said the application of punitive damages demonstrated the judiciary's firm stance against infringement and reflected Chinese courts' commitment to providing equal protection to litigants, regardless of whether they are domestic or foreign.

The top court also stressed the need to establish a comprehensive judicial protection system covering the entire process, from breeding and seed production to propagation and sales. It called for continued improvements to the legal rules governing intellectual property rights in the seed industry, taking into account the seasonal nature of crop growth and differences in propagation methods.

The SPC urged courts nationwide to handle disputes involving new plant varieties fairly and efficiently, pledging to foster a fair and orderly legal environment that supports innovation and helps safeguard national food security.