On March 12, 2025, the District Court for the Eastern District of Washington reversed an earlier order that had invalidated the U.S. plant patent for the Staccato cherry, owned by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). This decision follows the Court's recent determination that the “Glory” cherry is, in fact, the Staccato cherry.

As a result, AAFC is now positioned to advance its claim that the propagation, distribution, and sale of “Glory” trees or cherries infringes on the Staccato patent, in an ongoing legal dispute involving three U.S. defendants: Gordon Goodwin, a Washington State orchardist who asserted he discovered the “Glory” tree and patented it; Van Well Nursery, Inc., which is accused of improperly transferring a Staccato cherry tree to Goodwin and subsequently growing and selling “Glory” trees; and Monson Fruit Company, a grower, packer, and seller of “Glory” cherries.

The Court acknowledged that it had made a “clear error in granting summary judgment” regarding the invalidity of the Staccato patent. The defendants had submitted an Excel spreadsheet aimed at demonstrating sales of Staccato cherries before the filing of AAFC's patent application. However, this spreadsheet omitted ten rows of data that, along with other evidence, indicated that the sales were for Sonata cherries rather than Staccato cherries.

“It is undisputed that the defendants excluded the first ten rows of [the spreadsheet] that stated the sales were actually of Sonata, an entirely different cherry, then falsely represented to the Court that [the spreadsheet] was an accurate copy of the original spreadsheet. It would be manifestly unjust to excuse this behavior at this stage of the proceedings,” the Court stated.

Sean Beirnes, General Manager of Summerland Varieties Corp. (SVC), which holds the global master license for Staccato cherries, expressed satisfaction with the Court’s ruling, stating that the license for a valid patent can now be properly enforced. He emphasized the importance of trust within the global tree fruit industry and highlighted the need for stakeholders to respect intellectual property rights associated with protected varieties, noting that SVC will maintain a strict stance against violations.

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