Nadorcott litigation approaches a conclusion

On 11 September 2024 the General Court of the European Union has endorsed NCP’s position and has dismissed the appeal lodged by Eurosemillas against the decision of the Board of Appeal of the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), which rejected the nullity application filed by Eurosemillas. The judgment highlights that the CPVO and its Board of Appeal reached their conclusions after having collected and analyzed sufficient evidence, and that Eurosemillas’ allegations against the assessment of the evidence are vague and do not even identify any error of appreciation by the CPVO or its Board of Appeal.

 

Essentially derived variety

This decision of the General Court entails that, for a third time in a row, the validity of the Nadorcott’s rights has been confirmed against Eurosemillas’ claims. Such decision comes after the Board of Appeal of the CPVO, rejecting Eurosemillas’ position, ruled that there are only two differences between the Tang Gold variety and Nadorcott and after the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) confirmed in the Explanatory Notes on Essentially Derived Varieties the position held by NCP from the beginning on the concept of essentially derived varieties. NCP’s Mohamed Benbiga stated “NCP holds valid rights over the Nadorcott variety and we will not permit the breach of our rights to go unchallenged”.

Source: official release of NCP association.