Blueberry Variety Dispute Between Noposion and Meiming Escalates

On July 17, Shenzhen Noposion International Investment Co. Ltd. issued an announcement disclosing litigation involving several of its subsidiaries. The ongoing legal disputes between the company and Yunnan Meiming Agriculture Co. Ltd. (云南美鸣农业有限公司) over blueberry proprietary variety rights and seedling quality have involved claims totaling hundreds of millions of Chinese yuan.

According to the latest announcement, several of Noposion’s subsidiaries — Yunnan Mengyumei Agriculture Co. Ltd. (云南梦遇莓农业有限公司), Guangzhu (Yunnan) Agriculture Co. Ltd. (光筑（云南）农业有限公司), Aimeizhuang Agriculture Group Co. Ltd. (爱莓庄农业集团有限公司), Yuanjiang Lanbaiwang Agriculture Co. Ltd. (元江蓝百旺农业有限公司) and Yunnan Lanbaiwang Agriculture Co., Ltd. (云南蓝百旺农业有限公司) — have recently received legal documents from the Intermediate People’s Court of Kunming, Yunnan province. As of the date of the announcement, the cases had entered the first-instance stage, with court hearings scheduled. The total amount involved in the litigation is 36.2494 million yuan ($5.37 million).

The subsidiaries do not recognize the plaintiff’s claims and will actively defend the lawsuits and clarify the facts through legal proceedings. Noposion expects that these litigation cases will not have a material impact on its normal production and operations. However, the effects on the company’s current and future profits and losses remain uncertain, with the actual outcome contingent on the final court judgments.

According to the announcement, in the first case, Meiming alleged that Mengyumei, Guangzhu and Aimeizhuang had, without authorization, produced, propagated and planted its newly developed blueberry variety at their respective operating sites. The plaintiff requested that the three defendants immediately cease the alleged infringement, destroy the new-variety plants and propagation materials in their possession, and jointly compensate for economic losses of 25.08 million yuan ($3.72 million), as well as reasonable expenses of 100,000 yuan ($14,800) incurred in pursuing the cessation of the alleged infringement.

In the second case, Meiming alleged that Yuanjiang Lanbaiwang, Yunnan Lanbaiwang, Guangzhu and Aimeizhuang had infringed its plant variety rights. The company requested that the four defendants immediately cease the alleged infringement of the new-variety rights, destroy all blueberry plants and propagation materials of the protected varieties in their possession, and jointly compensate for economic and expected losses totaling 3.6498 million yuan ($540,700). In addition, Meiming requested that the defendants be subject to double punitive damages based on this amount, bringing the total claim to 10.9494 million yuan ($1.62 million), as well as reasonable expenses of 120,000 yuan ($17,800) incurred in pursuing the cessation of the alleged infringement.

Prior to this, on May 23, Noposion issued an announcement disclosing the first-instance verdicts in two lawsuits filed by Meiming against its subsidiaries for the alleged infringement of plant variety rights.

When filing the lawsuits, Meiming sought total compensation of 80.4485 million yuan ($11.92 million). The first-instance court rulings ordered total compensation of 8.73 million yuan ($1.29 million). Noposion stated that its subsidiaries disagreed with the first-instance judgments and would file appeals in accordance with the law to protect their legitimate rights and interests through legal proceedings.

The legal dispute between Noposion and Meiming dates back to January 2024. At that time, Noposion’s subsidiaries Lanbaiwang and Wangyumei separately filed lawsuits against Meiming and Spanish company Plantas de Navarra S.A., alleging that defects in the supplied seedlings had caused large-scale production losses. They sought compensation of 94.751 million yuan ($14.0 million) and 52.2403 million yuan ($7.74 million), respectively. In April 2025, the first-instance court ruled that the defendants should compensate the two plaintiffs for combined losses exceeding 52 million yuan ($7.70 million). All three parties involved — the two plaintiffs and the defendant — filed appeals against the ruling. No subsequent public information regarding the appeals has been found to date.

Subsequently, beginning in March 2025, Meiming began filing lawsuits against Noposion’s subsidiaries, alleging infringement of its plant variety rights, with the scope of the legal disputes continuing to expand. In April 2026, Meiming filed additional lawsuits against Yanshan Manyuemei Agriculture Co. Ltd. (砚山曼悦莓农业有限公司) and Tengchong Wangyuemei Agriculture Co. Ltd. (腾冲市旺悦莓农业有限公司) over alleged infringement of plant variety rights, involving claimed damages of 185 million yuan ($27.4 million). Meanwhile, Noposion’s claims against Meiming have also reached 147 million yuan ($21.8 million). The total amount involved in the ongoing litigation between the two parties has accumulated to several hundred million yuan.

Image: Pixabay

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.