Nicoter
| Nicoter | |
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| Art | Cultivated apple ( Malus domestica ) |
| origin | Sint-Truiden , Belgium |
| breeder | Tree nursery Johann Nicolaï / Katholieke Universiteit Leuven |
| Breeding year | 1992 |
| Launch | 2002 |
| ancestry | |
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Cross of |
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| List of apple varieties | |
Nicoter is a variety of apple . The cross between Gala and Braeburn was bred by the University of Leuven and the Jo Nicolaï nursery. The brand enjoys plant variety protection in the industrialized countries and has been marketed as a so-called club variety since 2002 under the brand name Kanzi .
Nicoter is similar in appearance to the mother variety Gala, but is more acidic, slightly larger and more juicy than this. The apple can be grown in Europe between South Tyrol and Northern Germany and is susceptible to scab and possibly fruit tree cancer . Of the various club varieties that appeared on the market at the beginning of the new millennium, Nicoter is so far the most successful on the market. Nicoter was the reason for the first decision of the European Court of Justice on the subject of European plant variety protection .
description
Nicoter is very similar in appearance to Gala. However, the Nicoter apples are a little more conical . Their coloring is more pink than that of the red Gala apple. The apples are medium-sized with an average weight of 200 grams, but slightly larger than most of the Gala mutants. The smooth-skinned fruits are very regular and tall. The variety has very firm, crunchy flesh , but is juicier and more aromatic than Gala and is therefore suitable as a table apple . Compared to Braeburn, it is juicier and has firmer pulp, but is also less sweet. Nicoter has one of the highest proportions of acidity of the apples currently on the market and a comparatively low proportion of sweetness.
In an international taste test carried out by the EU project Isafruit , in which some established, but above all new apple varieties took part, Kanzi apples were the most popular among eaters with the sour-firm taste - this corresponds to around a third of consumers in Europe and almost 60 in Germany %. Kanzi was less popular with fans of sweet apples. Across all customer groups, however, the apple was the variety that was classified as the most visually attractive.
Cultivation
Nicoter probably comes from the Gala variant "Gala Must"; both properties of the tree and the fruit are most similar to this variant.
After a few years of existence of the variety, it is difficult to make reliable statements about the growing conditions. In the first few years, the medium-sized tree produced high and regular yields. The best cultivation area for Nicoter is in Europe between South Tyrol and Northern Germany. In South Tyrol, where the apple is particularly widespread in mountain areas, its yields are around 10% below those of the South Tyrolean main variety Golden Delicious . The apple is ripe in Germany at the same time as Golden Delicious. The apples on the tree ripen almost at the same time, so that 50 to 70% of the harvest can be achieved with a single pick.
The variety is susceptible to scab , it is not resistant to fruit tree cancer and specks . Incorrect storage can cause the pulp to tan relatively easily . Especially in areas with little temperature difference between day and night, under hail nets and in the middle of the tree, the fruits often only color poorly.
Club variety
The exclusive rights to Nicoter belong to a single marketer. He concludes license agreements with various growers for the cultivation and marketing of Nicoter. The fruit growers have to pay a certain license fee, which is used, among other things, to market the variety, and the apples have to meet certain quality requirements so that they can be marketed as Kanzi. In 2009, around three quarters of Nicoter apples met the criteria to be sold as Kanzi. In each growing area there is a single supplier who is a partner of the rights holder Greenstar Kanzi Europe (GKE) and who is allowed to market Kanzi.
history
Development and marketing
The variety was originally bred by the University of Leuven together with the Belgian nursery Johann Nicolaï in 1992. The American patent application names Nicolaï as the inventor of the variety. The first crop cultivation of Nicoter took place in 2002 in the Netherlands and Belgium. The marketers aim to make Kanzi a basic European variety with a production of 100,000 tons per year in the medium term. In 2008, around 750 hectares were planted with Nicoter apples in Europe.
In 2009 the harvest was around 25,000 tons. There were 3.1 million Nicoter trees in Europe. Thereof 1.1 million each in Germany and in the Netherlands. There were 400,000 trees each in Belgium and Italy (South Tyrol). In the same year, the first attempts to cultivate the apple in the southern hemisphere began in order to be able to deliver it all year round in Europe. At the same time, a marketing campaign began on television, radio and in newspapers. In 2011, Die Zeit called the apple “the newcomer” among the apples available in Germany. In 2011, Nicoter was the most popular variety in Europe among the new club varieties, with around four million trees planted. However, development stagnated in the two main growing countries, the Netherlands and Germany, as there was uncertainty about susceptibility to fruit tree cancer.
In Germany, Nicoter apples were grown on a total of 483 hectares in 2011, on which there were around 1.4 million trees. That corresponded to 1.7% of the total area under cultivation for apples. Far more than half of them (870,000) were in Baden-Württemberg , where the area share was also 3.3%. There are other larger stocks in Lower Saxony and Saxony .
In 2001 the producers filed their first applications for plant variety protection with the Community Plant Variety Office and the American Patent Office, among others . Nicoter has been patented in the European Union since 2001 and in the USA since 2006. Nicolaï transferred the original rights to the Belgian marketer Better3Fruit , a spin-off from the University of Leuven. This in turn granted Nicolaï the exclusive right to cultivate Nicoter and to pass it on to other growers under certain license conditions. In the meantime Better3Fruit has transferred the exclusive marketing rights to the Belgian wholesaler European Fruit Corporation (efc) and its subsidiary Greenstar Kanzi Europe (GKE). GKE also sells the Nicogreen variety (brand name Greenstar), which comes from the same cooperation between the university and the nursery.
Proceedings before the European Court of Justice
Nicoter was on October 20, 2011 in the case C-140/10 Greenstar-Kanzi Europe NV ("GKE") v Jean Hustin and Jo Goossens cause for the first judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on European plant variety protection. He was referring to Regulation (EC) No. 2100/94 . In 2004 - contrary to the contract with Better3Fruit - Nicolaï passed on 7000 apple trees and the cultivation license in one case without requesting corresponding license agreements from the buyer - the grower Hustin and his buyer Goossens. After GKE had acquired the exclusive rights to Nicoter / Kanzi in 2005, GKE discovered the non-license-compliant trade between Nicolaï and Hustin in 2007. GKE sued the grower Hustin for compliance with the original license agreements between Better3Fruits and Nicolaï. Hustin argued with the exhaustion principle . Although Nicolaï, as a licensee, did not adhere to his contract with Better3Fruit, the claims were exhausted in this relationship. The rights holder no longer has any rights against Hustin.
While the Antwerp commercial court ruled GKE, the appellate body found itself on Hustin's side in 2008. In February 2010, the Belgian Court of Cassation passed the questions to the European Court of Justice because the exhaustion principle relates to European plant variety protection law. He also passed on the question of whether GKE was entitled to sue at all or whether this right belonged only to the actual rights holder Better3Fruits. The ECJ in turn decided, in line with other decisions in commercial legal protection, that disclosure, contrary to the original agreements, does not constitute exhaustion and that the current owner of the rights GKE has claims against Hustin. According to the ECJ, it is also possible for an exclusive licensee (GKE) and not only for the actual rights holder (Better3Fruits) to prosecute license violations even if it was not originally a contracting party. In addition, according to the ECJ, it does not matter whether the license infringer even knew about the provisions of the original license. The principle of exhaustion therefore generally applies in European law to plant variety protection as well, but not if, according to the original contract, the terms of the contract with the actual rights holder were significantly violated.
Web links
- US patent
- Nicoter at the rights holder
- Judgment of the ECJ in case C-140/10 - Greenstar-Kanzi Europe
Remarks
- ↑ a b c d Gerhard Baab, DLR Rheinpfalz: Apple club varieties - where is the fruit grower? , Lecture on the occasion of the 24th federal seminar for pome fruit from February 17th to 19th, 2004 in Oppenheim
- ↑ a b c US Patent No. PP17201
- ↑ a b c d Gerard Poldervaart: South Tyrol is interested in Kanzi, Modi and Jazz , in: European Fruit Magazine special edition Best Of p. 10 as pdf
- ↑ a b Irene Höller, Walter Guerra: Apple tastings - different countries, different preferences! in: Obstbau Weinbau 5/2009 pp. 194–197
- ↑ a b c d e Gerard Poldervaart: 5 million Kanzi® trees in 2012 European Fruit Magazine, No 12, 2009, p. 6 as pdf
- ↑ a b c d Apple and Eve, but no exhaustion says ECJ , IPKat , October 24, 2011
- ↑ Walter Guerra: Mairac® and Kanzi®: Apple varieties of the future? in: Obstbau Weinbau 1/2007 pp. 14–17
- ↑ Stefanie Schramm: The old country is looking for the super apple , Die Zeit, May 19, 2011 No. 21
- ↑ Rolf Stehr and a .: Development of the apple and pear range in Europe in: Schweizer Zeitschrift für Weinbau und Obstbau 3/12 pp. 9–11 as pdf ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Fachserie 3 series 3.1.4: Agriculture and forestry, fisheries Agricultural land use - Tree fruit areas - 2012 p. 39ff. as PDF
- ↑ Greenstar Kanzi Europe: About GKE NV
- ↑ Van Bael & Bellis: European Union: ECJ Rules On Exhaustion Of Plant Variety Rights , December 16, 2011
