In a case that’s now been going on for 10 years, a French appeals court finally decided for Kokopelli in the matter of civil damages. This is according to a mail sent to Kokopelli’s newsletter mail list. Please check the Kokopelli website for more information.
In short, Baumaux claimed that Kokopelli was violating the law by by failing to register their seeds, at the cost of 150 euros for each of their 14,500 varieties. This according to Baumaux gave Kokopelli a larger number of varieties than Baumaux, and an unfair business advantage. The judge decided there was no obstacle to Baumaux offering the same varieties if they choose, and the 150 euro registration fee was small in comparison to the damages claimed.
The judge did however reaffirm the legality of the EU seed law, and that Kokopelli was in violation of this. This could have consequences for other court cases.
