A high-profile legal battle between two of the global agriculture industry’s powerhouses has ended in the United States. A Judge in St Louis, Missouri, home of seed and agchem behemoth Monsanto, ruled that chemical company DuPont and its agricultural subsidiary DuPont Pioneer must pay Monsanto $1 billion in damages for patent violation.

Monsanto, which has gained notoriety for aggressively protecting its ‘intellectual property’, had sued DuPont over the latter’s use of Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready Genetic Modification technology. Monsanto demanded $1 billion in damages from DuPont, arguing the company had violated a 2002 licensing agreement covering use of the glyphosate-tolerant GM soybean trait.  

Monsanto claimed DuPont had acted deceptively in engineering soybeans containing both Monsanto’s Roundup Ready trait and its own GAT technology. DuPont had responded that Monsanto had deceived the government to obtain its patent, which would have negated its claim. However, following a four week trial in Missouri, a judge yesterday ruled in Monsanto’s favour and ordered DuPont to pay the royalties.

The two companies have previously battled in court over the use of the Roundup Ready trait. In 2009, Monsanto launched legal proceedings in an attempt to prevent DuPont using the GM trait in its own soybeans.

Following the verdict, a Monsanto spokesperson said the ruling "Underscores that DuPont's unauthorized use of the Roundup Ready technology was both deliberate and aimed at rescuing its own failed technology." DuPont has pledged to appeal.

Monsanto has an annual revenue of over $12 billion. Its Round-up Ready technology is widely used in North and South America, though it has also been subject to legal disputes in Brazil, where around five million farmers have defaulted on royalty payments for Monsanto’s GM soybeans and mounted a legal battle against the company.

The farmers argue that Monsanto’s two per cent royalty fee is unjust and have demanded restitution on back-payments. If their legal fight is successful Monsanto may be forced to return $2 billion in royalty payments accrued since 2004.

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