Strawberry researcher Douglas Shaw “found himself in a legal jam,” says The Associated Press in covering a dispute in which UC-Davis is suing Shaw and his research partner, “alleging they stole the school’s intellectual property by taking some of the fruits of their research with them” when they left the school. The scientists have filed a $45-million countersuit that says UC-Davis is sitting on their advances.
California is the No. 1 strawberry-growing state with a crop worth $2 billion. Some growers worry the lawsuit will stop the flow of plant research from university to farm. Shaw led UC-Davis’ plant-breeding program for years. He and plant biologist Kirk Larson developed 24 varieties of strawberries. Most of California’s strawberry farmers use varieties derived by Shaw and Larson, says AP.
Shaw and Larson retired from UC-Davis in 2014 and launched California Berry Cultivars, to continue work in strawberries. In its lawsuit, UC-Davis says Shaw and Larson infringed on its patents and violated an agreement not to use materials from their university work in future endeavors. The researchers say the own the intellectual property at stake in the case and they accuse the university of locking up some of their plants and destroying hundreds of others, says AP. Trial is set to begin this month in federal court.