Analysis On The Case Of Jindi Seed Industry Suing Pro Farming New Plant Varieties For Infringement

As a kind of important intellectual property,the legislative protection of the right to new plant varieties is not only related to the healthy development of the seed industry,but also related to the national food security.For this reason,China has gradually built a mature legal system of intellectual property rights in the seed industry.However,the protection system of the right to new varieties of plants in China is still not perfect,and there are many problems,such as the unclear identification of infringement,the unclear definition of farmers’ self-propagation and self-use,and the large gap in the amount of compensation awarded.Therefore,this paper selects one of the ten typical cases of the protection of new varieties of agricultural plants in 2022-the case of Jindi Seed Technology Co.,Ltd.v.Qintian Agricultural Industry Development Co.,Ltd.for infringement of the right to new varieties of rice "Jinjing 818" as an example,analyzes the deficiencies of China’s protection of the right to new varieties of plants,and puts forward relevant suggestions,hoping to strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the owners of new varieties of plants,Encourage the development and innovation of seed industry science and technology.This article mainly elaborates from the following four parts:The first part selected the case of infringement dispute of new plant varieties between Jindi Seed Industry Technology Co.,Ltd.and Pro-tillage Agricultural Industry Development Co.,Ltd.,summarized and analyzed the case and the court’s judgment,and analyzed the focus of controversy in this case,namely,whether the pro-tillage company’s behavior constitutes infringement,whether the seed sales behavior belongs to the farmers’ exemption from responsibility for planting,and whether the infringement damages apply to punitive damages,The protection of the right to new plant varieties is analyzed in detail.The second part analyzes the identification of infringement of the right to new plant varieties,and discuss the necessary conditions for the identification of direct and indirect infringement based on existing legal provisions,judicial precedents,and academic perspectives by distinguishing between traditional and new infringement subjects,as well as the types of infringement of the right to new plant varieties.The third part analyzes the rights subject and content of the farmers’ right to seed retention in the restriction of the rights of the variety owners,and suggests that measures such as defining the rights subject of the right to seed retention,limiting the planting scale of the right to seed retention,and limiting the types of varieties that farmers cultivate for their own use should be taken to improve the "farmers’ right to seed retention" rule and better protect the interests of the variety owners.The fourth part through the analysis of the applicable conditions and the determination of the amount of punitive damages for the infringement of the right to new plant varieties,from the perspective of fully protecting the owner of the right to varieties,put forward suggestions on the application of the punitive damages system.