"Qingguo 9" golden passion fruit rights protection case, the court has ruled!

According to a report from Qinzhou, recently, the case of unfair competition involving the "Qin Fruit 9" (formerly known as Qin Honey 9) golden passion fruit from Qinnan District, Qinzhou City, has concluded. The Fujian High People's Court upheld the first instance judgment of the Zhangzhou Intermediate People's Court, ruling that a certain company in Zhangzhou and its legal representative, Xu, constituted unfair competition.

"Qin Fruit 9" (breed number CNA20211005004) golden passion fruit is a new variety independently bred by Qinnan District, Qinzhou City, jointly cultivated by the Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Guangxi Qinci Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd., with the latter responsible for the variety's operation, licensing, and rights protection. Currently, Guangxi Qinci has exclusively authorized Guangxi Qin Fruit Agricultural Co., Ltd. to sell the variety seedlings and conduct related operations and management, and has signed a contract with Guilin Longteng Cultural Tourism Company as the first designated agency enterprise in the main production area nationwide.

Qin Fruit 9 has achieved significant breakthroughs in taste, stress resistance, and other aspects, and has a high degree of recognition and influence in the golden passion fruit field. Qin Fruit 9 is purely sweet without acidity, has a peel that can be picked, and is resistant to storage. It has a strong ability to bear fruit in high temperatures, maintaining a high fruit-bearing rate even at 36°C; it is self-pollinating and does not require artificial pollination; it has strong resistance to viruses, more so than Tainong No. 1 and other golden fruits, making it easier to manage; and it has a high yield, easily achieving over 2000 jin per mu with normal management.

A certain company in Zhangzhou, as an operator in the same industry, upon realizing the enormous economic benefits of this new variety of passion fruit, produced, propagated, and sold it without authorization, and falsely claimed through local official media that it had bred the variety, attempting to steal the scientific research achievements of others.

After trials by the Zhangzhou Intermediate People's Court and the Fujian High People's Court, it was ultimately determined that the false and misleading promotional behavior of the Zhangzhou company and its legal representative Xu constituted unfair competition. The court ordered the Zhangzhou company and its legal representative to compensate Guangxi Qinci Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd. for economic losses, and mandated that the Zhangzhou company, its legal representative, and the local official media that were misled and deceived by it, issue a correction statement to eliminate the misunderstandings and other negative impacts caused by the false advertising.

Image source: Guangxi Qin Fruit Agricultural Co., Ltd.; Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences 2025 International Fruit and Vegetable Report. All rights reserved. Republishing requires permission from the International Fruit and Vegetable Report and credit must be given to the source.