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Dec. 19, 2011 St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: A lawsuit filed by Monsanto Co. Wednesday came after a months-long arbitration process concluded -- without the outcome the biotech giant had sought. On Wednesday an arbitration panel ruled that rival DuPont-owned Pioneer Hi-Bred had violated the terms of seed licensing agreements between the companies, but did not award Monsanto injunctive relief or damages. Earlier this year Monsanto and Pioneer entered into the arbitration process after Monsanto accused Pioneer, and several seed companies Pioneer had recently purchased, of failing to pay Monsanto royalties for the use of its technologies. The arbitration panel ruled Wednesday, and Monsanto responded by filing a lawsuit in federal district court in St. Louis seeking damages in the "tens of millions." "The long and short of it is we feel we are owed royalties for sales over a period of time," said Monsanto spokesman Thomas Helscher. "If the matter had been resolved satisfactorily, we would not have moved forward with the lawsuit." At issue, Helscher explained, are seed-licensing agreements between Monsanto and several smaller seed companies that were licensed to sell corn and soybean seed containing Monsanto's Roundup Ready technology. These companies, Helscher said, had agreements with Monsanto, that were later supplanted by an agreement with Pioneer after Pioneer bought the companies. Monsanto's viewpoint, Helscher said, is that Pioneer arranged with the smaller companies to sell seeds with Monsanto technology under their individual brands. Pioneer, in Monsanto's view, was acting outside the agreement -- and this was what the arbitration process addressed. The lawsuit, Helscher explained, was filed against the individual seed companies for selling Monsanto technology distributed via Pioneer. "We didn't license them to buy our technology from someone else," Helscher said. But Pioneer said Thursday that Monsanto's response was an attempt to stamp out competition. "The lawsuit filed [Wednesday] appears to be a reaction to an arbitration panel ruling made the same day in DuPont's favor denying Monsanto's claims for damages and injunctive relief in a dispute against DuPont," said Jane Slusark, a DuPont spokesperson, in a written statement. "The lawsuit also appears to be yet another way for Monsanto to intimidate other seed companies." Tweet |
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