Syngenta scores in patent skirmish
On May 10, a federal judge cleared Syngenta from infringing on Monsanto's glyphosate-tolerance technology by using a transgenic corn crop acquired from Bayer CropScience in 2004. Basel-based Syngenta triggered one of two cases on May 12, 2004, by announcing that it had acquired from Bayer CropScience of Monheim am Rhein, Germany, the rights to GA21, a glyphosate-tolerance technology in corn. Monsanto of St Louis, Missouri, immediately sued Syngenta in the Delaware federal district court, alleging infringement of a claimed chimeric gene for introducing the glyphosate-tolerance trait. The court eventually consolidated this action with a lawsuit filed by Monsanto subsidiary, DeKalb Genetics, contending infringement of claims covering methods for producing glyphosate-tolerant corn. In May, this year, Judge Sue L. Robinson found the asserted chimeric gene patent claims invalid for lack of enablement. Syngenta had not infringed the asserted process patent claims, Robinson held, because these claims would have required Syngenta to bombard maize cells with DNA-coated microprojectiles, a step that DeKalb, not Syngenta, had performed. “Worldwide, glyphosate-resistance in crops represents the most widely adopted genetic modification technology,” says Michael D.K. Owen, professor of agronomy at Iowa State University in Ames. “It appears that the seed companies will use resistance to glyphosate herbicide as the platform for all other genetically modified traits.” The value of glyphosate tolerance correlates with the proliferation of patent litigation over the technology. Monsanto has announced plans to appeal. PJ
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