On Aug. 22, 2024, the District Court for Eastern Washington definitively ruled that the so-called Glory cherry is, in fact, the Staccato cherry, the trade name for the globally renowned and commercially successful late-season variety developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) tree fruit development program.

Summerland Varieties Corp., the marketing agent responsible for AAFC-developed sweet cherry varieties, reported that the judgment resolves a long-running litigation between AAFC and three U.S.-based defendants.

The defendants include Gordon Goodwin, a Washington state horticulturist who claimed to have discovered Glory and patented it as his own; Van Well Nursery, Inc., a U.S. nursery that in 2000 improperly transferred to Goodwin a Staccato cherry still under a restricted trial agreement as a Sonata cherry; and Monson Fruit Company, a U.S. grower, packer, and marketer of Glory cherries.

To prove that Glory and Staccato cherry (originally identified as 13S-20-09) are the same, AAFC relied on extensive phenotypic screening and whole-genome sequencing and assembly using PacBio sequencing, the most accurate and comprehensive DNA testing and analysis available today.

In ruling that Glory is Staccato, the District Court contrasted AAFC’s DNA evidence with the defendants’ DNA evidence, stating that the defendants' DNA evidence was “neither credible nor ... the best.”

“We are pleased that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has been officially vindicated in its long-held and scientifically proven belief that Glory is in fact Staccato,” stated Sean Beirnes, CEO of Summerland Varieties Corp., which markets the patented fruit varieties developed by AAFC.

“This ruling should serve as a warning to those who seek to take undue advantage of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s fruit tree development program and demonstrate to Canadian taxpayers and authorized licensees of patented fruit varieties that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Summerland Varieties Corp. are committed to protecting the program and their significant investment in it,” he added.

Main photo: Nick Ibuki / Cherry interior: Summerland Varieties Corp.