Monsanto sues Du Pont over patent infringement

06 May 2009

Monsanto, the world's biggest seed company has filed a suit against Du Pont, the chemicals major for unlawful use of Monanto's proprietary Roundup Ready herbicide tolerant technologies in soybeans and corn.

DuPont said in a response that Monsanto was "stifling healthy competition" and farmers should benefit from such technologies without restrictions.

According to Monsanto the suit was filed on Monday in federal court in St Louis against DuPont and its subsidiary, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.

 Monsanto said like other seed companies Pioneer too can sell soybeans and corn with the Roundup Ready trait. However, Pioneer has publicly stated its intention to replace the trait with DuPont's claimed glyphosate tolerant Optimum GAT trait.

Monsanto pointed out in a statement that Pioneer has recently admitted that the Optimum GAT trait when used alone presents unacceptable risks to farmers.

 According to the suit filed by Monsanto, Pioneer is misusing the Roundup Ready trait to mask problems with Optimum GAT.