India: PEPSICO LOSES! The company won’t have exclusive rights to a potato variety. How is that possible?
An Indian court has rejected PepsiCo Inc.’s appeal against a decision invalidating a patent for a variety of potatoes grown exclusively for its popular Lay’s potato chips, Reuters reports.
The Plant Variety and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFR) of India in 2021 revoked the intellectual protection granted to PepsiCo’s FC5 potato variety, saying Indian laws do not allow a patent on seed varieties.
PepsiCo claims to have developed its FC5 potato variety and registered the product in 2016. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required for the production of snack foods such as potato chips.
Patent protection for agricultural products
Local farmers began growing the vegetable. In 2019, PepsiCo sued several of them, accusing the growers of infringing its patent. The company also sought more than 10 million rupees ($121,000) for alleged patent infringement, but within months, it withdrew the lawsuits.
Reuters notes that PepsiCo is the second American company to face patent infringement issues in India. Previously, seed producer Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) withdrew from some of its businesses in India.
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