Spanish Court Upholds Moroccan Royal Family’s Mandarin Variety Patent in Agribusiness Dispute

The EU court confirmed in September the protection of the Nadorcott mandarin variety that Eurosemillas, producer of the Tang Gold mandarin variety, was contesting. Both varieties are protected by the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), which had rejected in 2020 an appeal by the Cordoba company, considering it "unfounded". The appeal aimed to verify "whether the protection of Nadorcott was compliant or not," said Eurosemillas CEO Ana Cano to the newspaper El Diario.

American and Moroccan researchers have been interested in the discovery in the 1980s of a Moroccan farmer, El Bachir Nadori, whose mandarins could ripen without seeds thanks to random cross-pollination. This variety was later registered in 2006 by the company Nadorcott Protection, whose net worth in 2015 was estimated at $5.7 billion, according to Forbes.

In 2013, Eurosemillas managed to obtain recognition from the Spanish authorities of its Tango Gold mandarins as a new variety, which it registered in the EU. Hence the conflict. After being dismissed by the EU court in September, the Cordoba company did not specify whether it will appeal the decision. "We are considering this option," said the CEO of Eurosemillas.

In July 2013, the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) fined the Club of Protected Plant Varieties 5 million dollars for "anti-competitive behavior" in the management of Nadorcott mandarins, following a complaint from the ASAJA association. The National Court has just canceled this fine and ordered the CNMC to refund the funds received.