Bloom Fresh™ works with table grape growers worldwide to license its varieties and provide technical, marketing, quality, and legal support. In June and August 2024, it held its first open field days in Yunnan and Sichuan, China to showcase its table grape portfolio to potential licensees in China.
IFG Seven (marketed under Cotton Candy).
The company is now introducing its new main licensees in China - Yu Qian (Shanghai) Agricultural Technology Development Co. Ltd., Shenzhen Pagoda Seed Industry Co., Ltd., Chuan Gao (Guangzhou) Agriculture Co., Ltd., and Frutacloud Co. These organizations will open up the opportunity for more growers around China to license protected plant varieties.
"By working with our new main licensees, we aim to create a triple-win that benefits not only our company but also growers and the communities we work within, ensuring that growers across China can access the same advantages that our global licensees have enjoyed for many years," said David Smith, general manager Bloom Fresh China.
Smith was also firm when it came to infringement. "Alongside our licensees, we remain committed to protecting the rights of those planting our varieties legally, taking firm action against any infringements."
To protect its intellectual property and the interests of its licensees, the company is taking legal action against nurseries and growers using its proprietary varieties and trademarks without authorization. It has initiated administrative actions, raids, civil litigations, and online takedown procedures. In the last two years, it has successfully concluded enforcement cases in Yunnan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Hebei, and Guangdong, with offending parties facing financial penalties and being ordered to remove any illegal vines.
Left: Sheehan 21 (marketed under Ivory); right: IFG Six (marketed under Sweet Sapphire)
The company is putting a particular focus on the plant variety rights of the proprietary grape variety "IFG Six" (trademark name "Sweet Sapphire") and will continue to clamp down on any growers or nurseries who are growing this variety without a license. Infringers illicitly gain advantages through stolen intellectual property and create unfair competition for legitimate licensees, who pay for the use of intellectual property rights.
Poor-quality infringing fruit negatively affects the market for high-quality, licensed fruit, impacting prices for the legal growers. Infringers do not receive authorized plant material or the benefit of technical support and quality assurance systems. Infringing fruit also deceives consumers, as the quality does not align with the company's specifications for licensed fruit.
In China, Bloom Fresh has secured plant variety rights for 16 table grape varieties and many registered trademarks.
For more information:
Marie-Anne de Béjarry
Bloom Fresh
[email protected]
www.bloomfreshglobal.com
David Smith
General manager China
[email protected]