Should cloned horse be registered as quarter horse? Horse breeder seeks rehearing in antitrust suit
Breeders of a cloned horse are asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its decision, tossing their suit seeking to register the clone with the American Quarter Horse Association.
Texas horse breeder Jason Abraham and veterinarian Gregg Veneklasen had claimed the association violated antitrust laws when it refused to register Lynx Melody Too, the Los Angeles Times reports. They are asking the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the case en banc.
Without access to the horse registry, the breeders cannot enter their cloned horse in lucrative racing, breeding or horse shows for quarter horses. They claim this excludes them from the market for elite quarter horses.
The Quarter Horse Association says its no-clone rule is in keeping with rules by other purebred registry groups. The association’s executive director of marketing, Tom Persechino, told the Los Angeles Times the cloning won’t “do anything to expand the breed.” Instead, he said, cloning would copy what was already done. “When a person buys an American quarter horse, they want to know that my quarter horse has the blood of these horses running through it, not copies of it,” he said.
Jurors had ruled for Abraham and Veneklasen, and the district court entered an injunction requiring registration of cloned horses.
In a January 14 opinion (PDF), a 5th Circuit panel reversed the trial court and ruled for the association on its motion for judgment as a matter of law. The appeals court found insufficient evidence of a conspiracy.
