ST. LOUIS, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Monsanto Company
(NYSE: MON) and Pilot Grove Cooperative Elevator, Inc. announced the settlement
of a
two-year dispute involving patent infringement. Pilot Grove acknowledged
violating
Monsanto's patented Roundup Ready seed technology and accepted responsibility
for
damages.
Compensation due under the terms of the settlement from Pilot Grove Coop
will
remain in the surrounding community to fund scholarships for local, college-
bound FFA
and 4-H youth. Pilot Grove Coop will also develop and adopt a stewardship
policy to
avoid future patent infringement and assure sound product stewardship, and will
work
with a third-party organization to provide training for employees.
"We pursue these cases for a number of important reasons," states Scott
Baucum,
Monsanto's Director of U.S. Commercial Trait Stewardship. "First, we owe it to
the
hundreds of thousands of Monsanto farmer customers who are abiding by their
contracts
to assure a level playing field, and that some farmers don't have an unfair
advantage. Also, while it's important to Monsanto to protect our investment, it
is
extremely important to the entire agricultural community that we are able to
continue
to reinvest in new and better seed technology. For every $10 a farmer spends on
seed, Monsanto invests $1 in research and development."
"We are glad to have been able to resolve this issue professionally and in a
way
that demonstrates the commitment of both Monsanto and Pilot Grove Coop to
agriculture
and this community in a way that minimizes the impact to those farmer-members
who
were not involved. We are also glad to be able to offer seed with traits and to
continue to do business with Monsanto," said Earl Haller of Pilot Grove Coop.
It is relatively rare that Monsanto sues over saved seed. With
approximately
250,000 customers in any given year, it is only a small fraction that saves seed
containing patented traits and when they do it is largely only related to
soybeans.
In most of these situations, we are able to reach a mutually agreeable
settlement
without filing suit. During the past 10 years the vast majority of seed patent
infringement claims were settled without the need for any legal action.
Monsanto
filed suit against farmers for seed patent infringement approximately 125 times.
Of
those 125 lawsuits, all but eight (8) were successfully settled without the need
for
a trial; Monsanto proceeded through trial in the remaining eight, and won each
case.
About Monsanto Company
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions
and
agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto
remains focused on enabling both small-holder and
large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our
world's natural resources such as water and energy. To learn more about our
business
and our commitments, please visit: http://www.monsanto.com/.
SOURCE Monsanto Company
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Related links:
http://www.monsanto.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/114341.html /
CONTACT:
Garrett Kasper of Monsanto Company,
+1-314-694-6047; or Earl Haller of Pilot Grove Cooperative
Elevator, Inc., +1-660-834-5409
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