On April 25, 2025, China’s Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) announced a verdict favoring Limagrain’s Chinese affiliate Heng XX Seed Industry Co., Ltd. against Henan Jin XX Seed Industry Co., Ltd. The SPC awarded Limagrain’s affiliate over 53 million RMB and an injunction for infringing new corn plant variety “NP01154” overturning the lower court’s decision and applying punitive damages. This is believed to be the highest ever award in China for new plant varieties infringement.
Heng XX Company filed a lawsuit with the first instance court, claiming that the seven approved corn hybrid varieties produced and sold by Jin XX Company, including “Zheng Pinyu 491”, “Jinyuanyu 304”, “Jinyuanyu 171”, “Zheng Pinyu 597”, “Jinyuanyu 181”, “Zhengyuanyu 777” and “Zhengyuanyu 887”, were all produced without permission using the “NP01154” variety as a parent, and requested that it be ordered to stop the infringement, apply punitive damages of 160 million RMB and pay 200,000 RMB for reasonable expenses for rights protection. In the first instance, Heng XX Company submitted four test reports to prove that the number of difference sites between the parents of the alleged infringing variety “YZ320” and “NP01154” was 1, and therefore was infringing; Jin XX Company submitted test report No. 2994 and claimed that there were differences in 4 of the 5 additional test sites, and the two were different varieties, so it did not constitute infringement. The first instance court accepted the test report No. 2994 submitted by Jin XX Company, determined that the parent of the alleged infringing variety “YZ320” and the authorized variety “NP01154” were different varieties, and ruled to dismiss all the claims of Heng XX Company. Heng XX Company appealed.
The focus of the second-instance dispute was whether Jin XX infringed the variety rights of “NP01154” and the determination of infringement liability, which mainly involved whether the parents (paternal parents) of the seven hybrid corn varieties accused of infringement were identical to the authorized variety “NP01154”. In particular, when using molecular markers to determine the identity of the variety, the conditions for expanding the site testing and the probative value of the additional testing results were the key issues in this case.
The Supreme People’s Court held that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the five additional test sites in the No. 2994 test report were generally recognized specific sites that could distinguish different varieties. The report’s initiation of the expanded site testing procedure and the selection of additional test sites did not comply with the provisions of the relevant judicial interpretations and the requirements of the molecular marker testing standards for new plant varieties, and had no probative value. Jin XX’s claim that its allegedly infringing variety was “glutinous” corn and that the authorized variety “NP01154” was “ordinary corn” and that the two were different varieties lacked evidence. The evidence in this case can prove that the parents (father) of the seven hybrid corn varieties accused of infringement are identical to the authorized varieties, and Jin XX’s behavior constitutes infringement of the “NP01154” variety rights; Jin XX’s company intentionally infringed, and the infringing products involve 7 approved hybrid varieties, the infringement period is as long as five years, and the infringing production area is as high as 8243.4 acres. The infringement is serious, and punitive damages should be applied, and the multiple of punitive damages is determined to be 1X, and then the total compensation is determined to be twice the amount of compensatory damages, that is, more than 53.347 million RMB. In view of the complexity of the case and the evidence, Heng XX’s attorney fees, testing fees, travel expenses and other expenses are reasonable, and the reasonable expenses of 200,000 RMB for rights protection are fully supported. The final compensation amount in this case is 53,547,163.1 RMB.
The original text of the announcement is available here (Chinese only).