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Monsanto Company is a global supplier of agricultural products that had sales in excess of $6.3 billion in 2005 (c-548). It sold genetically modified (GM) canola seeds in Canada and GM soybean seeds in the United States. The company developed a patented process in Canada that “covered the gene and process for insertion…and cells derived from that process,” and in the United States covered the entire plant. By using this patented process, seeds had an increased resistance to glyphosate (many generic herbicides contained this) and would survive being sprayed. This was the stated object of the patented invention. These plants were known as Roundup Ready.
Monsanto’s Protection of Intellectual Property
Monsanto has been extremely aggressive in protecting the patents on their GM seeds. This is clearly evident by looking at the company’s payroll. They maintain an annual budget of $10 million and employ 75 full-time associates whose job is “devoted solely to investigating and prosecuting farmers”(c-553). Monsanto has been utilizing two primary methods to protect their intellectual property: contractual agreements and legal
Monsanto used contractual agreements to protect their intellectual property by having their customers agree to a “limited use” license agreement when they purchased their seeds. A common practice and tradition in the farming community had been seed-saving, a practice called “brown-bagging” in which farmers saved the seeds from one year’s harvest and used them in the following years. The idea behind the limited use agreement was to assure that farmers were only using the Monsanto seeds for the one year that they purchased ...