Salinas, California, USA
May 3, 2018

Central Valley Seeds is one of the leading developers and suppliers of romaine lettuce seed in the United States. Shamrock Seed Company does business as Vilmorin North America and is a subsidiary of Vilmorin & Cie SA, the fourth-largest seed company in the world. The companies announced today that they have reached a satisfactory resolution of a patent dispute involving Central Valley Seeds “Sunbelt” romaine lettuce variety and Shamrock Seed Company’s “Vaquero” romaine lettuce seed variety. Vilmorin will be licensed to sell Vaquero world-wide by Central Valley Seeds through the expiration of its Sunbelt patent. All other terms of the settlement are confidential.

“We are very pleased to have this dispute settled and are amenable to the terms involved.” says Tony Avila, one of the owners of Central Valley Seeds and one of the breeders of Sunbelt.

“We believe this settlement provides an efficient and reasonable solution to this patent dispute.” says Franck Coutand, Head of Industrial Property for Vilmorin & Cie.

Central Valley Seeds is a privately owned family vegetable seed company operated by the four Avila brothers, which has been in business for 32 years. Central Valley Seeds is a breeder/producer and sales company which has a valuable portfolio of lettuce seed patents and other intellectual property assets. Its headquarters for R&D is located in the Salinas Valley, while its main office is located in Sanger, California.

Vilmorin North America is headquartered in Salinas. “The Salad Bowl” of California. Shamrock Seed Company was acquired by Vilmorin in October 2013, and later rebranded as Vilmorin North America. Shamrock Seed Company was established in 1983 to provide quality vegetable seeds direct to commercial growers in major production areas. As part of the Vilmorin family, Vilmorin North America is backed by the latest technology, and the Shamrock Seed Company genetics are now supported on a global scale.

Website: http://www.centralvalleyseeds.org/

Published: May 21, 2018