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Italy: Regulator looks into complaints against restrictions of seedless grapes

By  |  May 7, 2019

A wide number of South Italian producers and traders, under a committee called “Comitato Liberi Agricoltori e Commercianti Pugliesi e Lucani” has announced the imminent opening of proceedings in front of the Italian Antitrust authority against seedless table grapes breeders and IP owners.

Mr. Lorenzo Colucci, at the head of the committee, himself a producer and trader in the grape industry for many years, declares: “Supported by a legal staff, we are going to show the Italian Antitrust authority some market’s distortions derived from the criteria which are used by IP owners in assigning licences on patented seedless grapes. We do not want to undervalue the importance of breeding, research and innovation on the varietal front. What we are fighting against is a system we judge imposed and unfair”.

According to the committee, the so-called “club” system, regulating the production and distribution of seedless grapes, would imply restrictions which are unjustified by the need to protect IP right.

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