27 November 2002

MISSISSIPPI FARMER TO PAY MONSANTO $780,000 FOR "PATENT  INFRINGEMENT"

Biotechnology giant Monsanto has filed numerous suits against farmers across the US

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Monsanto awarded $780K judgment: A Pontotoc farmer has been found to violate Monsanto's patent on Roundup Ready soybean seeds

Daily Journal
http://www.djournal.com/djournal/site/articles/news/1368980.htm

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court accepts his case and reverses the decision of the appeals court, Pontotoc farmer Homan McFarling will be paying Monsanto Company $780,000 in damages for patent infringement.

Monsanto was awarded the judgment in a lawsuit in which the company charged McFarling violated its patent for Roundup Ready soybean seed.

"There was a two-to-one vote against him and I'm filing a petition this week for certiori to the U.S. Supreme Court on the question of whether a Mississippi farmer can be sued in Missouri for exclusively Mississippi activities," said Tupelo attorney Jim Waide, who represents McFarling.

Biotechnology giant Monsanto has filed numerous suits against farmers across the nation for patent infringement, and Waide represents several of them. Most of the lawsuits are filed in Missouri, where the company is based.

"We are appealing on the grounds that the U.S. Supreme Court and all the other circuits disagree with that," Waide said. "We're also filing an appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on the validity of the entire contract. We believe that the contract asking for enormous damages for what was a very small actual loss is unconstitutional, an excessive fine."

Monsanto has patented its soybean and cotton seeds which have been genetically engineered to resist its Roundup brand herbicide. When Roundup is sprayed on a field planted with these seeds, it will kill the weeds without harming the crop.

Monsanto contends saving seeds after their Roundup Ready crops have been harvested violates the patent, while the farmers contend there is no patent on the seeds, which are products of nature.

Other similar cases Waide represents are still some time away from being adjudicated in the courts.

"This will probably be the decisive case when the Supreme Court rules on the jurisdictional issue and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rules on the merits," Waide said.
NGIN - GM WATCH daily: http://www.ngin.org.uk

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Monsanto awarded $780K judgment

A Pontotoc farmer has been found to violate Monsanto's patent on Roundup Ready soybean seeds.
Daily Journal
http://www.djournal.com/djournal/site/articles/news/1368980.htm

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court accepts his case and reverses the decision of the appeals court, Pontotoc farmer Homan McFarling will be paying Monsanto Company $780,000 in damages for patent infringement.

Monsanto was awarded the judgment in a lawsuit in which the company charged McFarling violated its patent for Roundup Ready soybean seed.

"There was a two-to-one vote against him and I'm filing a petition this week for certiori to the U.S. Supreme Court on the question of whether a Mississippi farmer can be sued in Missouri for exclusively Mississippi activities," said Tupelo attorney Jim Waide, who represents McFarling.

Biotechnology giant Monsanto has filed numerous suits against farmers across the nation for patent infringement, and Waide represents several of them. Most of the lawsuits are filed in Missouri, where the company is based.

"We are appealing on the grounds that the U.S. Supreme Court and all the other circuits disagree with that," Waide said. "We're also filing an appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on the validity of the entire contract. We believe that the contract asking for enormous damages for what was a very small actual loss is unconstitutional, an excessive fine."

Monsanto has patented its soybean and cotton seeds which have been genetically engineered to resist its Roundup brand herbicide. When Roundup is sprayed on a field planted with these seeds, it will kill the weeds without harming the crop.

Monsanto contends saving seeds after their Roundup Ready crops have been harvested violates the patent, while the farmers contend there is no patent on the seeds, which are products of nature.

Other similar cases Waide represents are still some time away from being adjudicated in the courts.

"This will probably be the decisive case when the Supreme Court rules on the jurisdictional issue and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rules on the merits," Waide said.