Comments by "Deborah Freedman" (@deborahfreedman333) on "PepsiCo sues Indian farmers over 'exclusive' Lays potatoes" video.

  1. This strain of potato, FC5, is patented. (It differs from other potatoes by having less moisture.) Lays gave it to Indian potato farmers working under contract for them. Part of the contract was not giving seed potatoes to anyone. The farmer growing the potatoes without contract, Patel, was unwilling to say how he had gotten the seed potatoes. Pepsico said Patel could continue growing the potatoes under contract or pay them $142,840 for the patent infringement. As long as companies can patent plant varieties, corporations have a right to sue for patent infringement. This case is not as bad as farmers being sued because their crops were pollenated by Monsanto crops. The real problem is contract farming, which does not adequately reward the farmer for their efforts.
    2
  2. Someone gave them patented seed potatoes, or they stole them. Either way, it was illegal.
    1
  3. You can grow unpatented heirloom varieties. Or you can buy the seeds legally. The problem here was four farmers illegally grew a patented strain which Lays only allows its contract farmers to grow. They can either pay the fines or avoid them by going under contract.
    1
  4. These farmers were illegally growing a patented strain. It doesn't matter what they made from them, they are guilty of patent infringement.
    1
  5. Lays has a patent on that variety, not all potatoes. So they were their potatoes.
    1
  6. Pepsi is a US corporation, it was Britain that colonized India and ripped it off.
    1
  7. No, they have a patent.
    1
  8. Much less water content, which allows it to fry without splatter. The farmer grew, and sold, a patented strain of potato. The question is: how did he obtain the seed? Only contract farmers, which he was not, were given them and their contract specified that they could not give seed potatoes to others. So either he stole the seed, or it was given to him illegally. It seems harsh, but actually is legal and justified.
    1
  9.  @TheCpadron19  A little different. In the Monsanto case here in Oregon, the farmer did not steal seed, but had his crops pollentated by a Monsanto patented crop. That was unfair, because he cannot control the wind. I was curious so looked it up. Lays owns patents on 14 different potato strains.
    1
  10. If you grow the tomato varieties H1538, H1546, H1428, H1293, H1311, or H1292, you will be infringing a Heinz patent. I wouldn't worry though, they are all developed for machine harvest, not the type you'd grow in the garden.
    1
  11. Less than $150K.
    1
  12. Do you understand what a patent is? Here are 14 strains of potato that Lays owns https://patents.justia.com/search?q=lays+potato
    1
  13. They were engineered to be drier, so the would splatter less when fried. Lays has contract farmers in India, who are given seed potatoes of this patented strain. The farmer in the story was not one of their contract farmers, so was growing this strain illegally.
    1
  14. Pepsico owns Frito-Lays.
    1
  15. How would one patent water?
    1
  16. Lays has a patent on 14 varieties.https://patents.justia.com/search?q=lays+potato
    1
  17. Is water genetically engineered or developed? No, so it cannot be patented. As Lays developed and patented the strain, yes they have exclusive rights.
    1
  18. They were sued for using a patented strain without being under contract.
    1
  19. It is a variety developed and patented by Lays.
    1