PEPSI, a US
food and beverage manufacturer famous for its PEPSI CO., sued the Indian farmers
for trademark infringement. The goods that were subject to trademark
infringement were potatoes, not cola. Pepsi said that they filed a lawsuit for
damages with trademark infringement, arguing that farmers grew their
trademarked potatoes without permission.
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| pixabay.com |
India's
largest potato buyer
According to
an Indian business official, PEPSI is India's largest fair-grade potato buyer.
Recently, PEPSI's potato chip have become very popular, and they are purchasing
large amounts of potatoes from India every year to produce potato chips. An
Indian official says the lawsuit is designed to counter the unauthorized use of
potato varieties registered as a trademark from the company's standpoint and is
a legitimate exercise of corporate rights.
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| pixabay.com |
Indian farmer
appealing for being unfair
On the other
hand, the accused Indian farmer said that he didn’t violate the Indian
Agricultural Law. He argued that cultivating some crops or seeds would not
violate the law unless they were sold or transformed the trademarks. A farmer's
group in India said PEPSI is infringing India's food sovereignty. He will fight
to the end with the accused farmer.
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| pixabay.com |
Controversy
over big companies and local business in foreign countries
In 2017, there
has been a boycott of PEPSI due to infringement of food sovereignty in India as well. It is also argued that PEPSI and
other major US retailers are violating the local business of India by
threatening economic sovereignty rather than simple trademark rights. The
confrontation between large corporations and local business is not limited to a
few countries.
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