IJSSELSTEIN, Netherlands: A court in Venice has accepted the request of Dutch-based royalty management agency Plantipp by ordering Italian plant nursery Vanin Vivai in Paese to stop producing, propagating, marketing or advertising plants of the varieties of Euonymus japonicus ‘White Spire’ and Photinia x fraseri Chico (‘BR20211’).
Preliminary injunction proceedings started after inspectors found young plants sold on the local market, in possible infringement of the Community Plant Variety Right (CPVR) on the following protected varieties:
At the request of Plantipp BV, which represents the breeders of these varieties in Europe, the court first granted the Judicial Description as a matter of urgency and ex parte (ie without prior notice or summoning of the defendant), to allow the acquisition of further evidence.
This procedure was carried out in April 2020 at Vanin Vivai Società Agricola ss. and led to the discovery of several thousand specimens that may have infringed the breeder’s rights of the aforementioned protected varieties. After the further technical investigation carried out in the course of the dispute, and during cross-examination of parties involved, the Court considered the infringement of 2 of the 4 varieties to be likely and therefore ruled as follows:
Reinier van Rijssen, founder and director of Plantipp, said he was pleased with the ruling and added: “It is Plantipp BV’s job to promote the work of breeders. Behind every plant, there is a story in which hard work and people play the leading role. It is an important discovery for Plantipp BV that the work of breeders and licensees is respected and recognised in Italy. Plant breeders’ rights add value to plants and contribute to the development of our beautiful sector.”