• PepsiCo Inc has agreed to withdraw lawsuits against nine Indian potato farmers it alleged infringed a patent by cultivating a variety grown exclusively for its Lay’s potato chips.
• The U.S. snack food and drinks maker, which had filed the lawsuit against the four farmers in April, said it wanted to settle the issue amicably.

Background:

• The multinational company first filed a lawsuit in court in Ahemedabad in April and requested the court to restrain the four farmers from growing the FC5 potato variant. PepsoCo had sued the farmers for Rs 1 crore ($142,840) each after alleging that they were violating patent laws.
• Pepsi-Co's Indian arm had offered an out-of-court settlement to the Indian farmers, but with conditions. The company sought an undertaking from the farmers saying they would not use its patent variety of potato and destroy all existing stocks, or sign a collaborative farming agreement with PepsiCo and sell the produce back to the company. The farmers did not respond to the offer.
• Now, farmer groups have urged the Gujarat government to not opt for an out-of-court settlement with PepsiCo as the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers Rights (PPV&FR) Act 2001 lets farmers cultivate any variety they like to, including the patented variety of potatoes, say activists.

The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001:

• This act recognizes the contributions of both commercial plant breeders and farmers in plant breeding activity and also provides to implement TRIPs in a way that supports the specific socio-economic interests of all the stakeholders including private, public sectors and research institutions, as well as resource-constrained farmers.
• This act recognize and protect the rights of farmers in respect of their contributions made at any time in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources for the development of new plant varieties.