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SCIENCESaturday 6 May 2017
Strawberry scientist is sued over the fruits of his research
BY SCOTT SMITH Working in partnership with
ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Plant growers and nurseries, they
scientist Douglas Shaw
spent his career toiling in launched a business called
the fields in California to
grow the perfect strawber- California Berry Cultivars,
ry, one that was plump and
bright red yet remained based in Watsonville, to
sweet even after the long
trip to grocery stores across develop new strawberry
the country.
When the professor re- varieties.
tired from the University
of California at Davis and The university accuses the
set up his own strawberry-
breeding business, though, researchers of patent in-
he found himself in a legal
jam. fringement and violating
In a case set for trial in fed-
eral court later this month, an oath they signed not
the university is suing Shaw
and his scientific part- to enrich themselves by
ner, saying they stole the
school’s intellectual prop- taking or acquiring plants,
erty by taking some of the
fruits of their research with seeds and other biological
them.
The two scientists claim in material and continuing
a $45 million lawsuit of their
own that the university has their research using de-
unfairly kept some of their
work locked in a freezer scendants of plants they
and is depriving the world
of a better strawberry. developed at UC Davis.
Some farmers in the No. 1
strawberry-growing state The scientists say they own
are worried the battle is go-
ing to stymie research and the intellectual property
cause them to lose their
competitive edge. Califor- at issue, and they accuse
nia last year produced 1.6
million tons of strawberries the university of locking up
valued at roughly $2 bil-
lion, according to the U.S. some of their plants and
Department of Agriculture.
“It doesn’t do anybody In this April 20, 2007 file photo, strawberries are seen growing on Andrus Island near Rio Vista, Calif. destroying hundreds of
any good for the university
Associated Press others, wiping out years of
research.q
to keep these strawberry ing the fruit’s succulence.
plants in a box,” said Rick They created strawberries
Florida’s building boom threat-McKnight, an attorney for that were more pest- and
the two former professors. disease-resistant, more du- ens wildlife-rich lagoon
“This is hurting the Califor- rable during long-distance
nia strawberry industry in a travel, or capable of grow- Associated Press pollutants into the lagoon,
major way.” ing during the shorter days ON THE INDIAN RIVER LA- which runs 156 miles along
Shaw, 63, is a giant in the of spring and fall. GOON, Fla. (AP) — The Florida’s Atlantic Coast, al-
strawberry world, heading The partners say their work most biologically diverse most to Palm Beach, and
the university’s lucrative netted the university $100 waterway in America is se- includes the Cape Canav-
breeding program for more million in royalties. How riously ill. The Indian River eral area.
than two decades along- much they themselves Lagoon is repeatedly be- “It’s the death by a thou-
side fellow plant biologist made at UC Davis is un- ing choked with oxygen- sand cuts,” said Bob Knight,
Kirk Larson. Most of Cali- clear, but they say they robbing algae, its surface an environmental scientist
fornia’s strawberry farmers contributed more than $9 increasingly dotted with with the Howard T. Odum
grow plants developed by million of their own royal- thousands of dead fish, Florida Springs Institute who
Shaw and Larson. ties toward the university’s manatees, birds and other has studied Florida’s waters
The two men developed breeding program. creatures. The culprits: farm for 40 years.
24 new varieties, allow- They retired from the univer- runoff and a huge influx The lagoon’s woes threat-
ing growers to double the sity in 2014 because, they of people that has sent en the region’s $2.5 billion
amount of strawberries say, the school was wind- lawn fertilizer and other recreation.q
produced while retain- ing down the program.
