July 10 (Reuters) - Opening arguments were under way Tuesday
in a potentially pivotal legal battle between agricultural
giants Monsanto and DuPont over Monsanto's control of a popular
seed technology worth billions of dollars.
The rivals have been fighting for years and the trial in
federal court in St Louis represents only part of an ongoing
argument over the use of lucrative seed technology that makes
soybeans, corn and other crops tolerant of glyphosate-based
herbicide, letting farmers spray the weed killer directly over
the crops.
In the trial in St Louis, expected to last about three
weeks, Monsanto is arguing that DuPont, through its Pioneer
Hi-Bred International unit, has violated a 2002 licensing
agreement giving DuPont the right to use Monsanto's
glyphosate-tolerant Roundup Ready soybean trait. DuPont counters
that Monsanto acted fraudulently in obtaining the patent.
"Over the course of this trial, DuPont will demonstrate to
the jury that the Monsanto Roundup Ready soybean patent in the
suit ... is invalid and unenforceable because Monsanto
intentionally deceived the United States Patent and Trademark
Office on several occasions as it procured the patent," DuPont
attorney Thomas Sager said in a statement to Reuters.
"We will also demonstrate that Monsanto sought to enforce
the RE 39,247 patent against farmers and against DuPont even
though Monsanto and its lawyers knew the patent was invalid."
Monsanto spokesman Lee Quarles said: "They're attempting to
distract from what is really on trial here, which is their
willful infringement of our patent."
"This suit will highlight that DuPont/Pioneer's unauthorized
use of Monsanto's patented Roundup Ready technology was done
without authorization under any license and without payment,"
said Quarles. "This trial will now establish the accountability
and financial liability for DuPont/Pioneer's improper use of the
Roundup Ready technology."
Quarles said Monsanto has been open to discussions about
collaborative commercialization, but DuPont has focused instead
on attacking Monsanto.
Both companies have strong positions in the U.S. seed
industry and have been racing each other and other competitors
to develop higher-yielding crops through genetic modifications
and other means. Roundup Ready soybeans and other crops have
become wildly popular with farmers and have become the base for
other 'stacks' of genetic traits developed for crops.
Thus, control and use of the technology is a critical issue.
Monsanto zealously guards it patented technology and sued
DuPont in May 2009 for what it said was unauthorized use of the
Roundup Ready herbicide-tolerant product. Monsanto said DuPont's
Optimum Gat soybean seed was a failure as a competitor to
Roundup Ready, leading DuPont to include the licensed Roundup
Ready trait in combination with its own glyphosate-resistant
genetic trait.
The U.S. District Court in St Louis ruled in 2010 that the
Roundup Ready license agreements between DuPont and Monsanto
contain an unwritten "implied" term that prohibited DuPont from
stacking its Optimum GAT trait with Monsanto's Roundup Ready
trait in soybeans or corn.
But the court said its ruling was narrow and that DuPont's
separate antitrust and patent fraud claims were not impacted by
that ruling and could proceed.
The case is In re Monsanto Co vs EI Dupont De Nemours, U.S.
District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, No. 09-00686.
For Monsanto: Adam Nadelhaft of Winston and Strawn.
For EI Dupont De Nemours: Amy Mauser of Boies and Schiller.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam)
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