PepsiCo loses rights to special Lays variety potato in India

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Two years after PepsiCo India provoked outrage by suing nine Gujarati farmers for allegedly infringing patent rights by growing its registered potato variety, the company’s registration has been revoked by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights’ Authority (PPV&FRA).

“This judgement is a historic victory for the farmers of India. It should also prevent any other seed or food corporation from transgressing legally granted farmers’ seed freedoms in India,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, convenor of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture, who had filed the petition to revoke the food giant’s registration.

Copied from Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pepsico-...

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Deal Subedar Deal Subedar
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The FC5 variety, registered in the US as FL2027, has 5 per cent lower moisture content than other varieties. With 80 per cent moisture content, as compared to the usual 85 per cent, this variety is considered more suitable for processing and therefore, for making snacks such as potato chips.

The variety was first cultivated by Dr Robert W. Hoopes, who holds the most potato patents and potato variety protections in the whole world. He was hired by the Frito-Lay Company (an American subsidiary of PepsiCo) as a Principle Scientist/Potato Breeder at the Research Center, US in 1987.

He then developed disease resistant potato varieties superior in flavour and colour. Several of his varieties are grown all over the world for PepsiCo’s famous potato chips.

FL2027 came to be registered in the US in 2005 and was put to commercial use in India in 2009,

This is a serious misconduct of the PPv&FRA . I get that MNC bad, farmer good and so on but this is a clear case of patent infringement. PepsiCo signed an agreement with farmers to license their patent in exchange of buying the crop. If they don’t want they can grow other varieties of potato. Patents are applicable worldwide and patent violation with government support will lead to retaliatory measures against Indian patents/ exports globally.

Finance Mentor Finance Mentor
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Farmers can do whatever they want to do and nothing is criminal and everything should be given freely to them.

Farm burning – it cause no air pollution as our cj of sc came from farm family and he feels so.

Spend lakhs of crores on dams but give that water to farmers freely.

No patent applies to them if they misuses patented seeds.

List goes on – electricity free – loan waivers – seeds should be given freely – fertilizer subsidy – list is endless.

These are all there rights because they feed us freely for our whole life as they are our anna daata.

How dare you to write against them? 😂

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