Skip to main content

Delhi High Court 'dismisses' Pepsi’s appeal against revocation of IPR on potato variety

By A Representative 

In an important development, Justice Navin Chawla of the Delhi High Court has dismissed the appeal filed by PepsiCo India Holdings (PIH), against a revocation order on its Plant Varietal Protection (PVP) certificate in December 2021 on its IPR on a potato variety. The revocation order was earlier passed by the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers’ Rights Authority in December 2021 on an application filed by farmers’ rights activist Kavitha Kuruganti.
The cause for action for Kavitha Kuruganti’s revocation application arose from the fact that Pepsico India Holdings had filed vexatious suits against several potato farmers in Gujarat in 2018 and 2019 in the name of IPR infringement. In May 2019, however, it was forced to withdraw all those cases unconditionally in the face of intense public resistance.
The High Court Judge concluded that he “found no merit in the present appeal” and dismissed the same, on 5th July 2023; the judgement was uploaded onto the Court website on 6th July 2023 night. Farmers’ rights activists termed it as a partial victory of farmers of India, for a third time.
This is probably the first time that a revocation-related litigation was being adjudicated in India’s courts under the Protection for Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act 2001. According to legal experts, the Act is a very unique sui generis legislation in India, unparallelled anywhere in the world. India’s lawmakers created this one-of-a-kind legislation in India, to comply with the WTO TRIPS Agreement.
It is an Act which through Section 39(1)(iv) incorporated seed freedoms for farmers in terms of their entitlement to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under this Act in an unbranded manner.
The farmers’ rights in this Act are in line with international treaties that recognise farmers’ rights, such as the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).
The appeal by PIH in the Delhi High Court brought forth many legal questions for adjudication, specific to PepsiCo India’s applications for PVP registration in 2011 and 2012; its actions against several Gujarat potato farmers in 2018 and 2019 and public interest in relation to that; as well as in relation to interpretation about certain provisions of India’s Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act 2001.
“It is good that the judgement of Justice Navin Chawla upheld the revocation order on at least three grounds (incorrect information with regard to date of first sale), ineligible registrant and failure to provide necessary documents, which are Sections 34(a), 34(b) and 34(c) of the Act). The judgement notes that the Appellant/PIH is now suffering for its own mistakes and for its casual manner of making an application seeking registration", Kuruganti, who is with the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), said.
“We welcome the fact that the judgement also states that 'any person interested' in applying for a revocation of a certificate granted would include within its ambit and scope a 'public spirited person' who files for revocation of the registration in public interest", she noted, adding, "It is however unfortunate that public interest violation, when it comes to vexatious suing of farmers in Gujarat, has not been upheld by Justice Chawla. Harassment of farmers was noted to be germane to the issue on hand by the Authority in its December 3rd, 2021 Order."
Kuruganti continued, "On the other hand, Justice Chawla, in his judgement opines that Section 34(h) grounds have not been clearly made out for revocation. Section 34(h) is about revocation on the grounds that the grant of the certificate of registration is not in the public interest."
The matter of vexatious litigation against farmers has not been squarely addressed by adjudicating authorities
She added, "It is a matter of grave concern that in three proceedings so far (when PepsiCo was forced to withdraw its cases against Gujarat farmers in May 2019 unconditionally through a public campaign, later on when the certificate of registration was revoked in December 2021 and in the current judgement that dismissed PIH’s appeal), the matter of vexatious litigation against farmers has not been squarely addressed by adjudicating authorities as a matter of public interest”.
Kapil Shah, an activist from Gujarat who was involved in defending the potato farmers right from the beginning, said, “Pepsi, which held a plant varietal certificate on a potato variety called FL-2027, had vexatiously and illegally sued several potato farmers in Gujarat in 2018 and 2019. The company did this despite the fact that India’s legislation on the subject of farmers’ seed rights is very unambiguous in its provisions entitling farmers to access any seed variety that they would like to, including protected varieties."
He added, "It appears that Section 8’s duties imposed on the Authority for protecting farmers’ rights have to be constantly defended by alert citizens. The PPV&FR Authority can nonetheless make use of this order to reiterate and uphold the rights of farmers over the rights of IP registrants, in the letter and spirit as contained in the statute.”
On behalf of  Kuruganti, senior counsel Colin Gonsalves and his team Hetvi Patel and Mr Rohit Saini (and Siddharth Seem in the initial stage) argued the matter which saw 12 hearings in the case, from 19th May 2022 to 25th April 2023, when the matter was reserved for judgement. The law firm J Sagar Associates has been representing PIH in court.

Comments

TRENDING

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

What's behind Donald Trump's 'narco-state' accusation against Venezuela

By Manolo De Los Santos  The US government has revived its campaign to label Venezuela a "narco-state", accusing its top leadership of drug trafficking and slapping hefty bounties on their heads for capture. This campaign, which only momentarily took a backseat, is a strategic fabrication, not a factual assessment. This accusation, particularly amplified under the Trump Administration, is a calculated smokescreen to justify a long-standing agenda: the overthrow of the Venezuelan government and the seizure of its vast oil and mineral resources. A closer examination of the facts reveals a country that has actively fought drug trafficking on its own terms and a US government with a clear and consistent history of destabilizing independent countries in Latin America.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857  By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman*  Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”