Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. v. Holden Foundation Seeds, Inc.
United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
1987 WL 341211 (1987)
Relevant factsFree
Pioneer Hi-Bred International (plaintiff), a hybrid seed-corn developer, sued Holden Foundation Seeds (defendant), alleging Holden wrongfully obtained genetic information from Pioneer's proprietary seed lines and used it for its own competing seed products, asserting both trade-secret misappropriation and conversion theories to protect its property rights in the genetic material.
IssueFree
Whether genetic qualities may constitute personal property subject to legal protection from wrongful acquisition.
Related cases
Griffith v. Kanamaru816 F.2d 624 (Fed. Cir. 1987)Ameritech, Inc. v. American Information Technologies Corp.811 F.2d 960 (1987)Home Box Office v. Showtime832 F.2d 1311 (1987)Mobil Oil Corp. v. Pegasus Petroleum Corp.818 F.2d 254 (1987)Original Appalachian Artworks, Inc. v. Granada Electronics, Inc.816 F.2d 68 (1987)