The Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA) announces that Parkland Agri Services of Didsbury Alta has agreed to pay two member companies for Parkland’s sale of common seed grown from varieties protected by Plant Breeders Rights.  The owners of those rights, SeCan Association and Proven Seed, share in damage awards approaching $200,000 and have obtained Parkland’s agreement not to repeat the illicit sales practices.

The settlement is a result of negotiations to resolve civil lawsuits filed by Proven and SeCan upon CPTA’s discovery of Parkland’s practice of selling common seed grown from protected varieties without authorization. 

SeCan General Manager Larry White is pleased with the result. “SeCan members support the need to generate income from seed sales in order to effectively fund the plant breeding organizations we represent.  Cases like this demonstrate that we will support our members’ legitimate sales efforts by ensuring that all sales of our varieties are made by authorized distributors who compensate the breeders for these innovative varieties”

“We invest a lot of time and money into the development of new seed varieties, to increase the returns to the western Canadian producer,” said Neil Arbuckle, Business Manager of Proven Seed.  “We are committed to having our innovative varieties sold legally and in a way that supports the continued investment into the development of new products to meet farmer’s ongoing needs."  It is our hope that the successful prosecution of infringers like Parkland will help us continue to bring new products to the market.”

The CPTA is a non-profit agency working to support innovation in the seed industry.  Unfortunately, some of this work involves the coordination of activities such as this civil action.

“A small but potentially damaging group of seed sellers continues to think they can have the best of both worlds – new seed technology without paying the plant breeding costs.  Their free-ride mentality ends up hurting both producers and seed developers.” stated Lorne Hadley Executive Director of the CPTA.  “The CPTA was set up to inform and educate the industry on the need to support innovation through legitimate seed sales.  It is regrettable that seed developers must take extreme steps such as this civil action to protect financial returns needed to continue innovating Canadian agriculture.”

Seed sellers and farmers should be aware the CPTA will continue to seek out and stop the sale of common seed grown from varieties protected by Plant Breeders Rights.  Incidents such as the Parkland case show that plant breeding organizations and distributors will take the steps necessary to protect their innovations.

Recent research completed in western Canada confirms that leading producers purchase pedigree seed from the legitimate distributors with the full knowledge that their purchases will result in further research into new and innovative varieties.  Leading producers expect to benefit from new varieties providing better agronomic packages and access to new markets.

BACKGROUNDER

Canadian Plant Breeders Rights Act

A number of varieties today are protected under the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act. The Act prohibits without the express permission/consent of the Rights’ holder the sale of seed of varieties that are protected under the Act for the purpose of propagation, whether or not the seed is sold by the name of the variety. Any seller of seed of a protected variety is liable to prosecution for damages, interest and costs.

A complete list of all protected varieties is available on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency web site at www.inspection.gc.ca.

Questions about the Plant Breeders Rights Act can be directed to the Canadian Plant Technology Agency office by phone toll free at 888-450-4116 or by e-mail to cpta@sasktel.net.