Industry – Agriculture
Territory- Turkey
Client – A public European company specializing in Hybrid Seeds for field crop.
Case – The client established an equal equity joint venture in Turkey together with a public Turkish agri-business group, for manufacturing and marketing of Hybrid Seeds. The partners agreed upon the following contractual obligations:
- The client provided the JV with intellectual property, advanced production systems and genetic material.
- The Turkish partner was responsible for the JV’s manufacturing and sales, through its existing marketing and distribution channels.
- Seed varieties would remain the sole property of the client and would be registered in Turkey under the client’s name.
The partners got engaged in a dispute due to breach of the JV’s agreement by the Turkish partner, related to financial and sales issues and seed varieties registration under the name of the JV. The partners negotiated and litigated over a long period of time but failed to resolve the dispute. The client remained exposed to strategic IP risks and the loss of its investment. Actions – Based on an independent case assessment and considerable professional experience in the territory we formulated a strategy and implemented it as follows:
- Freeze all negotiations with the partners until the time that leverage would be established and be used as an incentive for the Turkish partner to negotiate an amicable and final settlement agreement.
- Main efforts were placed on cancelation of seed varieties’ registration, through legal and diplomatic channels.
- Initiation of legal procedures accompanied by intensive PR activities, which aimed at promoting the profile of our clients.
Outcome –
- The registration of the seed varieties was cancelled and replaced by new registration under the name of the client. This forced the Turkish partner to start negotiating a settlement agreement.
- Final settlement agreement was signed by the parties. The JV was dissolved and the IP rights and genetic material were returned to the client. In addition, the client was compensated for part of its investments.