Cosmic Crisp Lawsuit Pt 1

Cosmic Crisp Lawsuit Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. A courtroom battle is brewing over the much-anticipated Cosmic Crisp apple. Phytelligence, an agricultural biotechnology company, that was formed at Washington State University sued the school last month claiming their contract with the school permits them to propagate the Cosmic Crisp for commercial sale as a provider or seller.

WSU's Phil Weiler says that's not the case ...

WEILER ... "Phytelligence signed a research agreement with Washington State University to propagate the apple trees, the trees that grow the Cosmic Crisp apple. Part of that agreement though was specifically said that they could not sell any of the trees without receiving a license first. Fortunately, we learned that they did indeed sell 135,000 to another firm prior to them being able to secure that license."

So, Weiler says they felt they had no choice but to file a counter suit ...

WEILER ... "There were really three things that we were concerned about. One was breach of contract. We believe that they violated the research agreement that they signed a number of years ago. We were also concerned about infringement on our patents. We have a patent on the tree that grows the Cosmic Crisp. And then the third thing we were concerned about is infringement on that trademark for the Cosmic Crisp name. So, those are pretty serious issues and things that we hope the court can help us resolve."

Weiler says it takes a long time to propagate a new apple variety for market, which started 20 years ago for the Cosmic Crisp.

Tune in tomorrow for more on the suit and the future of the apple many believe will be an instant favorite in the apple market.

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