In 2021, in India, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority revoked intellectual protection granted to PepsiCo’s FC5 potato variety since India’s rules do not allow patenting of seed varieties. PepsiCo appealed this decision but this appeal has now been rejected by the Delhi High Court. According to PepsiCo, the FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips. It supplies the FC5 seed variety to farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price. The decision was welcomed by the activists who originally instigated the action against PepsiCo and is another milestone in the battle to preserve diversity in seeds of plants of agricultural importance and which will be dealt with in more detail in an upcoming blog post.
