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On 12 March 2026, the High Court of England and Wales delivered a landmark judgment regarding the scope of Plant Variety Rights in Nador Cott Protection SAS v Asda Stores Limited. The long-running dispute arose from sales of a mandarin orange variety called "Tang Gold" in British supermarkets and whether these sales infringed the rights in the "Nadorcott" Plant Variety Right.
The "Nadorcott" variety resulted from crossing the "Murcott" mandarin and another variety in Morocco. A European Plant Variety Right for this variety was granted in 2004 and later retained as a British Plant Variety Right following Brexit and remains in force, giving its owner exclusive control over the production and commercial exploitation of the variety. "Nadorcott" fruit is seedless when grown in the right conditions and has been highly successful commercially. Meanwhile, the "Tang Gold" variety was developed by the University of California Riverside. Its fruit is also seedless because the flowers of this variety do not produce viable pollen. The seedless phenotype was achieved by irradiating a bud of a cultivar described as "W. Murcott" with unknown pedigree, but which may have been identical to "Nadorcott".
A particularly interesting aspect of the case was the question whether the "Tang Gold" variety is an essentially derived variety (EDV) of "Nadorcott", in which case it would fall within the scope of the "Nadorcott" Plant Variety Right, as a "variety dependent on the protected variety". The definition of an EDV is complex and open to interpretation and had not previously been tested in the UK Courts. In particular, an EDV is described in the British Plant Varieties Act 1997 in section 7(3) as one that is "predominantly derived from the initial variety or a variety that is itself predominantly derived from the initial variety, while retaining the expression of the essential characteristics resulting from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety". An EDV must further be "clearly distinguishable from the initial variety by one or more characteristics which are capable of a precise description". In addition, "except for the differences which result from the act of derivation, it conforms to the initial variety in the expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety.".
The Patents Court judge Mr Justice Mellor considered detailed arguments of the parties regarding differences in characteristics between the two varieties. He concluded that seediness of fruit (absent measures to prevent pollination) and pollen viability are essential characteristics of "Nadorcott". However, these characteristics are not retained in "Tang Gold" as a result of the act of derivation of bud irradiation. Mr Justice Mellor further concluded that the essentiality of the relevant characteristics (not retained in "Tang Gold") is evidenced by preferred growing conditions required for "Nadorcott", but not for "Tang Gold". Following on from this interpretation, the "Tang Gold" variety was found not to be an EDV of "Nadorcott", so that there was no infringement of the British Plant Variety Right. The findings suggest that, at least in the United Kingdom, there may only be relatively narrow protection for EDVs based on a Plant Variety Right.
Overall, this case illustrates the growing importance of Plant Variety Rights in agricultural markets and clarifies how such rights may be enforced within the British legal system and their scope of protection. It will be interesting to see whether the High Court decision will be appealed.
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