US Court of Appeals Rules In Favor of Monsanto

by Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.

The court system in this country appears to consistently support Monsanto, as shown once again in today's US Court of Appeals decision in Organic SeedGrowers and Trade v. Monsanto.   

Monsanto owns multiple patents relative to their Round Up Ready glyphosate seeds, which organic farmers go through great lengths and expense to avoid use of and contamination from.  Notwithstanding, as a result of the prevalence of genetically modified seed use in this country, wind blown contamination of our organic farms is inevitable.  As is often the case, when an organic farm is contaminated with Monsanto's Round Up Ready genetically modified seeds, Monsanto actually sues the organic farmer for patent infringement and consistently wins! 

In the above referenced case, organic farmers were essentially seeking a declaratory judgment from the court to rule that if an organic farm is the victim of wind blown genetically modified seed contamination, that  such an occurence is not an infringement of Monsanto's patents.  This became necessary as the Monsanto threat of law suits had become financially disabling to many of our organic farmers.  Although the organic seed growers wanted Monsanto to provide a binding covenant no to sue, Monsanto refused stating it is not their policy to sue farmers with trace amounts of their patented genetically modified seeds.

The US Court of Appeals affirmed in favor of Monsanto stating  that Monsanto expressed no intent to sue farmers who had crops containing trace amounts (less than 1 %) of their genetically modified patented seeds.  That although this was not a covenant not to sue, it is still binding upon Monsanto as a matter of judicial estoppel.  

Read the full article at www.liattorney.com/scales-of-justice.html.