Belgian court convicts Deroose Plants of PVR infringement

From Florint.org: Flemish plant grower Deroose Plants has been convicted by Belgium’s Ghent Commercial Court for infringement of the plant variety rights.  Its bromeliads ’Starlight’ and ‘Catherine’ were found to be indistinguishable from the ‘Calypso’ of competing breeder Exotic Plant.

Exotic Plant, based in the Belgian town of Laarne, specializes in the breeding of bromeliads, a South American ornamental plant species. The company protects its newest varieties through plant breeders’ rights, an intellectual property right especially for plants. One of these rights pertains to the variety ‘Calypso’, which is protected both in Belgium and the Netherlands.

After a long procedural battle, the Court has now decided that the bromeliads which Deroose commercializes in Belgium and the Netherlands under the names ’Starlight’ and ‘Catherine’, amount to an infringement of ‘Calypso’. It was held that the plants cannot be distinguished from one another.

Deroose immediately has to take its plants off the Belgian and Dutch markets and destroy all remaining propagating material. The Flemish breeder has also been ordered to pay a provisional amount of damages. An expert has been appointed to determine the final amount due.

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