India proceeded with the revocation of the intellectual protection granted to PepsiCo’s FC5 potato variety, saying that the country’s rules do not allow a patent on seed varieties, in line with an order issued recently by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPVFR) Authority.
The FC5 potato variety was grown exclusively for PepsiCo Inc’s popular Lay’s potato chips.
PepsiCo has maintained that it developed the FC5 variety of potato, and registered the trait in 2016.
The company, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 seed variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.
Two years ago, PepsiCo sued some Indian farmers based in the western state of Gujarat for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, which has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.
Withdrawing the lawsuits the same year, the New York-based company said it wanted to settle the issue amicably.
Later, Kavitha Kuruganti, a farmers’ rights activist, petitioned the PPVFR Authority for revocation of intellectual protection granted to PepsiCo’s FC5 potato variety, saying that India’s rules do not allow a patent on seed varieties.
