Monsanto wins a US lawsuit concerning the use of genetically modified and patented seeds by the same multinational by a farmer in the state of Indiana, who allegedly acted outside the rules imposed by the same company.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Monsanto wins a US lawsuit involving the use of seeds genetically modified e patented by the same multinational brought against a farmer in the state of Indiana, who allegedly acted outside the rules imposed by the company.
La Supreme Court American unanimously reiterated that farmers are not allowed to use genetically modified seeds patented by Monsanto for the generation of new seeds to be used for the cultivation of their fields without paying the multinational the payment due.
In essence, the farmers, after purchasing the patented seeds from Monsanto - in this case they were seeds of GMO soy - they cannot use the seeds obtained from the first harvest to produce a second one without permission and without paying the established amounts. These seeds could be used for personal food use, intended for animals or sold so that they can be used for the production of feed for livestock, but they cannot be kept for a new crop.
Farmers are thus forced to purchase new seeds from Monsanto itself or to make payments related to patented seeds obtained from a first crop. The protagonist of the story is the farmer Vernon Bowman which, according to the judge Elena Kagan, with his own latest crop he would have broke the rules imposed by Monsanto on patented seeds. The judge said, as reported by the Guardian, that the expiration of a patent does not allow farmers to reproduce patented seeds through sowing and harvesting without the permission of the patent holder.
Vernon Bowman had used seeds purchased not directly from Monsanto, but from a grain silo, for the cultivation of one of his soybean fields, to carry out a second late sowing. The advantage for the farmer appeared to be economic, as the indirect purchase of seeds is less expensive.
Monsanto keeps up though patent rights on seeds even after they have been sold to a third party. This allowed the multinational to win a compensation equal to over 84 thousand dollars by the farmer, as determined by the Supreme Court, due to the infringement of a patent still existing according to Monsanto, but which he had considered expired. The multinational of GMO seeds thus obtains a landslide victory, which however allows us to understand more deeply how its yoke forces farmers to follow logic based on the mere profit of the same, to their detriment.
Marta Albè
