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.
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