Pepsi, which owns Lays, has decided to sue four Indian farmers for infringing on US20050081269A1, which is a species of potato. (https://patents.google.com/patent/US20050081269A1/en). Recall the 2013 case, Bowman v. Monsanto for another recent example of a corporate giant going after a farmer for infringing on a patent. In case anyone is wondering, neither of these patents were plant patents--they were both utility patents, and you can always spot a plant patent by the letters "PP" in the name.
Legally, this suit was definitely probably inspired by Bowman v. Monsanto and SCOTUS' narrow view of the "patent exhaustion doctrine". However, there are enormous practical differences here. In the Bowman case, the farmer was successful and making a lot of money(about $75K per year) in the global scheme of things. In this case, it isn't clear just how successful the four farmers are. Statistically speaking, they likely earning about $4,000 per year(If you want to know how I estimate that, comment, but otherwise, see this https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rs-6-000-is-6-of-a-small-farmer-s-annual-income-according-to-nsso-data/story-rddMw0hk6cSbxjo7E1GyKK.html). From Pepsi's perspective, the case could be about making sure the potato patent is being enforced to deter other infringers. If some kind of action is not brought against these farmers, other companies could infringe on a much larger scale.
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