China court upholds T&G's apple rights

T&G is celebrating the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China’s decision to uphold an earlier landmark ruling protecting the company’s Scilate apple plant from infringement and unauthorized propagation.

The original ruling, issued by the Lanzhou Intermediate Court of Gansu Province in November 2023, found that the defendant had infringed on T&G’s intellectual property rights by unlawfully cultivating and selling Scilate variety plant material and apples harvested from the illegally planted materials.

The court awarded T&G RMB 3.3 million in damages and required the infringer to remove the illegal plant material.

T&G Global Chief Executive Gareth Edgecombe said the recent decision reinforces China’s commitment to its newly strengthened Seed Law and the protection of intellectual property rights.

Photo courtesy of T&G

“It takes years of investment in research and development to develop new plant varieties, combined with extensive sales and marketing activities, and this ruling by China’s highest Court gives confidence to horticultural businesses like ours to invest in China knowing that their intellectual property will be well protected," the GCE added. 

In China, Joy Wing Mau, a fruit technologies organization, grows all Scilate apples domestically and sells them under T&G’s premium ENVY apple brand.

“We, together with our variety management subsidiary, Venturefruit Global, have a significant pipeline of new apple, pear, and berry varieties which we want to license and grow in China, and following this successful ruling, we look forward to progressing our growth plans.” 

T&G’s Venturefruit subsidiary leads all plant protection activities on behalf of the group, including plant variety rights, plant breeding rights, plant patents, trademarks, and copyrights.