DuPont Pioneer reached settlement on PBR infringement case

Seed company DuPont Pioneer has reached an out-of-court settlement in a case that involves the unlawful sale of one its PBR protected seed varieties. 

According to an Aug. 25 news release, DuPont Pioneer has reached a confidential settlement with Hill & Hill Farms Ltd. of Varna, Ont. 

Hill & Hill is a family owned seed retail business and a division of Varna Grain, an elevator company also based at Varna. 

In the news release, DuPont Pioneer claims that one of its wheat varieties, 25R40, was being illegally grown, multiplied and sold to retail customers under another product name. 

The wheat variety is protected under Canada’s plant breeders’ rights laws. 

The news release does not say how much of the variety was sold to retail customers.

It is also unclear how long the variety was being propagated and sold illegally. 

"As a leading developer of wheat varieties, DuPont Pioneer makes significant investments to continuously improve its seeds so that Canadian farmers can increase the size and quality of their crops and operate more productively,” the company said.

"To support this effort, DuPont Pioneer acts to defend its intellectual property rights across its product portfolio.”