New Delhi : On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court reversed a prior ruling and found in PepsiCo’s favor, enabling the business to file for a patent on the potato variety that is grown only for Lay’s potato chips.
A division bench overturned a July 2023 ruling that had supported the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPVFR) Authority’s 2021 revocation of the patent.
It rejected the claims made by farmers’ rights activist Kavitha Kuruganti, who contended that PepsiCo shouldn’t be allowed to obtain a patent for a potato seed variety.
“The appeal of PepsiCo is allowed”, it said, setting set aside the Authority’s order and letter, and directing the restoration of PepsiCo’s renewal application to be handled by the Registrar in accordance with the law.
The court dismissed Kuruganti’s allegations that PepsiCo was operating against the public interest by suing farmers in a number of cases. According to the statement, the respondent was unable to demonstrate that PepsiCo was using predatory tactics or that the lawsuits were frivolous.
PepsiCo filed a lawsuit against Indian farmers in 2019 for allegedly infringing on patents related to the FC5 potato variety. Later, the business dropped the lawsuit, but the PPV&FR cancelled its varietal registration certificate in December 2021.
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