Category Archives: Plant Variety Protection

Patent Plant Variety Protection

NSAI’s Lopsided Take on Patenting of Biotech Innovation in Agriculture 

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Last week, we had brought to you a guest post by NSAI on the ongoing Monsanto-Nuziveedu patent dispute. We now bring to you another guest post on this dispute by Mr. Bhagirath Choudhary, the founder director of the South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC), New Delhi and Dr. Usharani KS, who practices at Prometheus Patent Services, Hyderabad. This post is in response to NSAI’s post, which in turn was in response to Prashant’s post on whether Monsanto’s invention can be protected as a plant variety…


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Patent Plant Variety Protection

National Seed Association of India (NSAI) on Delhi High Court’s Judgment in the Monsanto-Nuziveedu Dispute

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We bring you a guest post from Mr. R.K. Trivedi, Director (Technical) of National Seed Association of India (NSAI). This post is in response to Prashant’s post on whether Monsanto’s invention can be protected as a plant variety and seek benefit-sharing from Nuziveedu, which was published on the blog last week. As readers may be aware, Monsanto is locked in what is possibly the biggest patent/technology battle against various seed companies for some years now. The main seed companies at…


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Overlaps in IP Patent Plant Variety Protection

Can Monsanto’s Invention be Protected As a Plant Variety and Can It Seek Benefit-Sharing From Nuziveedu?

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One of the central planks of Nuziveedu’s defense in its ongoing litigation against Monsanto, that we’ve blogged about over here and here, is its claim that Monsanto’s invention is nothing but a “transgenic plant” with increased insect resistance and that the same could be protected as a “plant variety” under the Plant Variety Protection & Farmers Rights Act, 2001 (PVPFRA). As discussed earlier, this characterization of Monsanto’s claim may not be accurate but it seems to have been accepted by…


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Patent Plant Variety Protection

The Issue of Claim Construction Will be Key to the Monsanto-Nuziveedu Litigation before the Supreme Court

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As expected, the judgment of the Division Bench (DB) of the Delhi High Court in the Monsanto v. Nuziveedu litigation was admitted by the Supreme Court last week and the case is now slated for a hearing in July sometime. The bench of two judges hearing the matter refused to grant a stay on the operation of the DB’s judgment. While I don’t (yet) have access to the pleadings, I’m told that Monsanto’s legal team is now disputing the extent…


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Overlaps in IP Patent Plant Variety Protection

Delhi High Court’s Judgment in Monsanto v. Nuziveedu Delivers a Deadly Blow to the Agro-biotech Industry

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A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court recently pronounced its judgment in the long running litigation between Monsanto and Nuziveedu. The present judgment was delivered in cross appeals filed by both parties against the order of a single judge of the Delhi High Court that was delivered last year. To describe the judgment briefly, the court has delivered a knock-out punch to Monsanto, by declaring invalid its patent for Bt. Technology because Section 3(j) of the Patents Act prohibited…


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Biological Diversity Patent Plant Variety Protection

Pest Policy: Confusion, Capture or a Fetish for the Foreign?

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Policy-making is curious business. Particularly when it comes to technology. How else does one explain the following conundrum confronting our agro-biotech landscape? One the one had, the government appears more or less convinced that BT cotton (patented technology belonging to Monsanto) has developed pest resistance (against the pink Bollworm) and does not work anymore. And yet on the other, it wants this patented technology to disseminate widely in a cheaper and more accessible manner to the poor farmer. Forcing one…


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Plant Variety Protection

Supreme Court Stays Delhi High Court Judgment Striking Down Sec. 24(5) of Plant Varieties Act

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Last December, I had covered a judgment delivered by a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court striking down Section 24(5) of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFRA). This provision empowers the registrar of plant varieties to issue interim directions to prevent abusive conduct by third parties during the period between the filing of an application for the registration of a plant variety and the making of a final decision as regards the grant of registration….


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Patent Plant Variety Protection

NOC requirement for registering or releasing new plant varieties scrapped

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As per a recent report in the Financial Express by Vivian Fernandes, the PPVFR Authority, constituted under the Protection of Plant Variety & Farmer’s Rights Act, 2001 has finally done away with a long-standing requirement of producing a ‘No-Objection-Certificate’ (NOC) from the patentee of a particular GM trait that is used by a breeder while developing a new plant variety and which variety he seeks to register under the PVPFRA. Since the interplay of these rights is slightly confusing, let…


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Patent Plant Variety Protection

Intervention by Addl. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in Monsanto-Nuziveedu appeal raises questions of propriety

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Vivian Fernandes of Smart Agriculture has brought to light a recent development in the ongoing litigation between Monsanto and Nuziveedu. As we reported earlier, Monsanto sued Nuziveedu for patent and trademark infringement before the Delhi High Court. A Single Judge of the high Court declined to grant an interim injunction and the matter was appealed to a Division Bench of the High Court. As per Fernandes, during the hearings, the Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta “wanted to make a voluminous…


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Patent Plant Variety Protection

The RSS involvement in the Monsanto-Nuziveedu dispute and a reticent Bloomberg-Quint editor

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In a special investigative report published on March 28, 2017 Reuters revealed the role being played by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the IP dispute between Monsanto and Nuziveedu. For readers not familiar with the RSS, it is the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Although the RSS claims that it is only a “cultural” body not involved in politics, there is little doubt that the BJP or the Prime Minister (who was a member of the…


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