Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian recently determined that Canada wasn’t time-barred in accusing the Washington farms of violating false advertising and consumer protection laws, among other claims. (Capital Press file photo)

A federal judge has refused to dismiss the Canadian government’s allegations that several Washington farms violated consumer protection and false advertising laws.

The ruling is the latest legal setback in a cherry patent dispute for Van Well Nursery, Monson Fruit and Gordon and Sally Goodwin, who grow fruit trees near Wenatchee, Wash.

Canada’s agriculture ministry has accused the Washington producers of infringing on its patent for “Staccato” cherry trees by unlawfully propagating and marketing them as the “Glory” variety.

Chief U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian recently determined that Canada wasn’t time-barred in accusing the Washington farms of violating false advertising and consumer protection laws, among other claims.

The defendants argued that Canada’s agriculture ministry was aware they’d developed and advertised “Glory” trees as early as 2012, which means the 3-4 year statutes of limitations for the government’s various claims had already run out when the lawsuit was filed in 2020.

However, the judge has disagreed with this interpretation, ruling that the statutes of limitations for Canada’s claims would not have begun accruing until 2017 or 2018, when the government learned of plans to actually sell the cherry trees, which means the “plaintiff’s claims are timely.”

In earlier rulings, the judge said he’d “committed clear error” by invalidating Canada’s plant patent and also determined that “Staccato” and “Glory” trees were actually of the same variety, rejecting arguments by the Washington defendants that the cherry cultivars are genetically distinct.

Canada’s government claims that Van Well Nursery had obtained permission to test and evaluate its “Staccato” cherry trees but was not permitted to propagate and sell them.

The complaint alleges the nursery nonetheless delivered the Staccato variety to cherry growers Gordon and Sally Goodwin, who then obtained their own patent for the cultivar under the name Glory and provided it to Monson Fruit for propagation and planting.

While the defendants argued that Glory was a natural mutation discovered by Gordon Goodwin, the judge has determined it was actually a Staccato tree delivered to his farm by mistake among trees of another variety.