https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-pepsi-farmers/pepsico-withdraws-lawsuits-against-indian-potato-farmers-idUSKCN1SG1KT
May 10, 2019 / 10:25 AM / 9 days ago
PepsiCo withdraws lawsuits against Indian potato farmers
AHMEDABAD, India, NEW DELHI (Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc has formally
withdrawn lawsuits against Indian farmers that the snack food and drinks
maker had accused of infringing its patent by cultivating a potato
variety, the company and the growers said on Friday.
PepsiCo had sued nine farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety,
grown exclusively for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety
has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.
Soon after suing the farmers, PepsiCo came under political pressure from
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and
some of its allies who asked the U.S. company to withdraw lawsuits
against potato farmers, who come from Gujarat, Modi’s home state ruled
by the BJP.
Bowing to pressure, PepsiCo on May 2 agreed to take its lawsuits back.
“It’s a victory for us, but PepsiCo’s decision to file lawsuits against
the farmers has sullied their reputation and the company now must
apologize,” Anand Yagnik, the potato growers’ lawyer told a news
conference in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat.
The submission made in the court to withdraw lawsuits against the
farmers “is in sync with its publicly stated position,” a PepsiCo
spokesman said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/26/pepsico-accused-of-harassment-after-suing-indian-potato-farmers-lays-crisps
PepsiCo offers to settle with Indian potato farmers after backlash
Farmers sued for allegedly growing potatoes used in Lay’s crisps without
permission
PepsiCo has faced a backlash after suing four Indian farmers who
allegedly grew a patented strain of potatoes used in its Lay’s crisps
without the company’s permission.
The company, which originally sought about $150,000 (£116,000) in
damages from each of the farmers, arguing they broke the law by sourcing
and dealing the potatoes, offered to settle “amicably” when the case
went to court in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Friday.
The case sparked outrage from farmers and others concerned that PepsiCo
was using its clout to interfere with the country’s food supply. The
role of foreign companies in producing and selling food in India is a
hotly contested issue, particularly when concerning genetically modified
(GM) crops.
“It’s a question of India’s seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and
country sovereignty,” said Kapil Shah, an activist who is defending the
farmers. “It’s spreading panic among the farmers.”
A number of farmers’ groups in India have banded together to protest
against the court action. Ambubhai Patel, the vice-president of a
farmers’ association, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, said they were lobbying the
government to back the accused farmers’ favour and punish the
“harassment” of other farmers.
Patel’s group is linked to the prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which has increased its
scrutiny of foreign companies in the run-up to national elections ending
in late May.
“Potato-growing farmers have nothing to worry [about] and we can’t allow
such intimidation,” Patel told local media. “We will fight against it in
court as well as on the streets if needed.”
PepsiCo said the farmers who grew its strain of potatoes without
permission were hurting the interests of the many people working with
the company to produce them for its Lay’s crisps. It supplies those
farmers with seeds and subsequently buys back the potatoes.
“PepsiCo is India’s largest process-grade potato buyer and amongst the
first companies to work with thousands of local farmers to grow a
specific protected variety of potatoes for it,” a spokesperson said in a
statement.
The spokesperson later added that the company was compelled to take
legal action as a “last resort”, and was “deeply committed to resolving
the matter”.
Companies such as PepsiCo have previously faced criticism for their use
of natural resources, facing a boycott in one drought-hit Indian state
in 2017 for allegedly using excessive amounts of water to manufacture
soft drinks.
Memories of the shortage were high on the minds of some commentators
this week. “Let us hope PepsiCo won’t sue people for using the same
groundwater used in Pepsi,” Ravi Nair, a journalist, wrote on Twitter.
======================================================================
https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/agriculture/update-1-pepsico-sues-four-indian-farmers-for-using-its-patented-lays-potatoes
Pepsi is suing four Indian farmers 10 million rupees each for growing
the potato used to make Lay’s
The FC5 variety, prized by potato chip makers for its a lower moisture
content, is patented
AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI — PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for
cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims
infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.
Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, grown
exclusively for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a
lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.
The company is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840) each for
alleged patent infringement.
The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading
producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.
“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this
problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one
harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the
four farmers sued by Pepsi.
Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.
A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to
hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the farmers’ lawyer.
“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were
illegally dealing in our registered variety,” a PepsiCo India spokesman
said.
“This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest
of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting
from seeds of our registered variety.”
PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989,
supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell
their produce to the company at a fixed price.
The company said the four farmers could join the group of growers who
exclusively grow the FC5 variety for its Lay’s potato chips.
“PepsiCo India has proposed to amicably settle with the people who were
unlawfully using the seeds of its registered variety. PepsiCo has also
proposed that they may become part of its collaborative potato farming
program,” the company spokesman said in a statement.
If the farmers do not wish to grow the FC5 potato variety for PepsiCo,
they can simply sign an agreement with the company to cultivate other
available varieties, he added.
The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the
Indian government to protect the farmers.
The forum has also called for a boycott of Lay’s chips and PepsiCo’s
other products.
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately
respond to an email seeking comment.
PepsiCo is the second large U.S. company to face patent infringement
issues in India.
Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker
Monsanto, now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some
businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters
reported in 2017.
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