Nadorcott Protection takes legal action against UK supermarket

Nadorcott Protection (NCP) has revealed that it has taken legal action against one of the UK’s largest supermarkets, months after it affirmed its commitment to take “all available actions” to protect its rights over the Nadorcott mandarin variety.

The UK is the third market in which NCP has launched legal action to protect the Nadorcott variety against “the unauthorised sale of Tango/Tang Gold mandarins”.

“NCP is committed to pursuing legal efforts to prevent the unauthorised sale of Tango/Tang Gold mandarins,” it stated. “These efforts have also been extended to other European markets. Warning letters have also been sent to supermarket retailers across Europe warning them about the risks involved in the unauthorised sale of the Tango/Tang Gold variety.”

The NCP believes its action was recently bolstered by the adoption of new Explanatory Notes on Essentially Derived Varieties by UPOV, the International Union for the Protection of of New Varieties of Plants.

Its opinion is that the UPOV document supports its assertion that the Tango/Tang Gold variety “falls within the extent of protection” of the Nadorcott variety.

Nadorcott Protection’s Mohamed Benbiga commented: “Over the course of several years, we have been firm and clear that we will not slow our efforts to defend the Nadorcott variety. The legal action we have now launched against one of the largest supermarket retailers in the UK is our most determined signal yet that we will not permit the breach of our rights to go unchallenged.”