Zespri wants $30m in damages

Zespri has launched a civil case in the Auckland High Court for $30* million damages against the person who allegedly sent plants of its Sungold kiwifruit variety to China.

It is believed the area covered by the illegal plantings is about 160 hectares. They were discovered in 2016 and are thought to have been growing since 2012.

Zespri told New Zealand kiwifruit growers last year they had discovered who the alleged offender was. It owns plant rights to the new Sungold for at least another 18 years, so only growers contracted to the co-operative can plant it.

Zespri communications spokesman Yannis Naumann said the $30m damages were calculated based on the licence value of Sungold (or Gold3, the official title) licences in New Zealand and the loss of opportunity for Zespri to license Gold3 in China.

‘‘This reflects the importance we place on defending intellectual property and plant variety licence rights for our growers, and the $20m annual investment our industry makes in innovation including exploring new cultivars.’’

Naumann said the plantings were not having a material impact on Zespri’s business in China but they represented an infringement of its proprietary rights in China which Zespri took very seriously.

Last year Dr Fiona Pringle, a senior associate at law firm Baldwins and a specialist in the area of intellectual property (IP), said there were no provisions in the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987 (PVR Act) for criminal proceedings in relation to breach of an owner’s rights. The case would therefore have to be a civil one.

Naumann said the person, who is described as a ‘‘New Zealand-based grower’’, had not yet been named.

China has become Zespri’s most important market, with sales now tracking to reach $505m this financial year.

Zespri does not officially grow Sungold in China yet, but has been investigating contracting growers to grow Sungold to its specifications.

* An earlier version of this story based on incorrect information supplied by Zespri said it was seeking damages of $70m.