DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Monsanto Co. (MON) said Tuesday it filed a patent-infringement
lawsuit Monday in federal court against DuPont Co. (DD) and unit
Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. to prevent what the world's
largest seed supplier alleges is the illegal use of its Roundup
Ready herbicide-tolerant technologies.
Pioneer has the right to sell soybeans and corn with the Roundup
Ready trait. Pioneer has publicly said for several years it would
replace the trait with DuPont's Optimum GAT trait, but it recently
said the Optimum GAT trait when used alone poses unacceptable risks
to farmers, according to Monsanto.
Monsanto alleges Pioneer is using its Roundup Ready trait to
mask problems with the other trait, violating its contract rights
and patents.
The two companies have met in court before over patents - a
court determined years ago that Pioneer breached its license and
improperly used Monsanto's YieldGard corn borer trait. Both
companies were also been named in similar lawsuits by Syngenta AG
(SYT) in 2002.
DuPont had no immediate comment.
Monsanto's shares were recently down 0.6% at $88.45 in premarket
trading and DuPont's were down 0.5% at $29.26.
-By Kerry E. Grace, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5089;
kerry.grace@dowjones.com