Reversal？Willowood Scores Significant Victory: No Copyright Protection for Pesticide Labels

According to information from Willowood, Willowood USA, LLC has recently obtained a significant victory against Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC that has national implications for the crop protection industry. In an April 10 ruling, a federal district court in Greensboro, NC held that pesticide labels are not subject to copyright protection. Until then, the only other federal court decision, issued in 2006, had ruled in favor of the basics and held that copyright protection applies. In its April 10 ruling, the North Carolina court found the prior decision to be “unconvincing,” and held that federal pesticide law “contemplates that a [generic] applicant will copy from the original pesticide label in ways that would otherwise infringe a copyright.…”

“We are very pleased that there is finally a federal court decision that corrects the the prior court decision,” said Brian D. Heinze, President and CEO of Willowood, “This ruling should put a stop to the baseless and anti-competitive efforts of the basic manufacturers to use the copyright laws as a means to fight generic competition. The court’s decision vindicates the long-held belief of both the generics and the EPA that Congress never intended copyright law to apply to pesticide labels. ”

“Willowood intends to vigorously defend itself against Syngenta’s remaining allegations of patent infringement in the North Carolina case,” Heinze said. “Although the court recently ruled that Willowood infringed two Syngenta patents when it imported a mere 5 kg of azoxystrobin for purposes of testing and formulation, those patents expired in February 2014 and Willowood never sold any azoxystrobin until after the patents expired. We welcome the opportunity to prove in court that Willowood has never infringed any Syngenta patent in connection with the sale of any product.”