Grape breeders joined forces this month to take the first ever action to enforce Community Plant Variety Rights in Greece.
Grapa Co, owner of Early Sweet and master licensee for Arra grape varieties, teamed up with SNFL Group, exclusive master licensee for Ralli Seedless and Sheehan Genetics grape varieties, to take legal action against a Greek nursery.
The nursery was found to be propagating grape vines of Early Sweet and Ralli Seedless without a license, and believed to be distributing to unlicensed growers outside Greece.
The case was heard in a Greek court, with the nursery forced to pay damages to both SNFL and Grapa and subject to a court order not to infringe the Early Sweet or Ralli Seedless plant variety rights.
Duncan Macintyre, chairman of SNFL Group, commented: “This is a landmark case, and the first of its kind in Greece. As grape breeders, we invest huge amounts of money over long periods of time to create new varieties, and it is essential that we have a robust legal framework to protect out investment from breaches of our plant variety rights.”
Rafi Karniel, managing director of Grapa, highlighted the importance of cooperation between breeders. “About five years ago, I envisioned that effective enforcement would be established through collaboration between different table grape breeders, united in our cause,” he said. “I am pleased that after all these years, we finally reap the benefits of this vision and I hope that the future will hold many more successful collaborations with other table grape breeders who have had their rights infringed.”
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