Des Moines Register
05-23-07
Monsanto violated patents, ISU says
Its research foundation is challenging sales of the company's Vistive soybeans.
By ABBY SIMONS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
The Iowa State University Research Foundation is suing Monsanto Co. for
patent infringement, claiming that the St. Louis corporation has developed and
sold soybeans with the same low-fat characteristics as soybeans developed and
patented by two ISU professors.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Des Moines, alleges that Monsanto
began selling its Vistive soybeans, which are used to make a low-fat cooking oil,
"without any license or authority from (the foundation) and now licenses Iowa
State's technology to others."
According to the lawsuit, Iowa State professors Walter Fehr and Earl
Hammond have been awarded several U.S. patents relating to soybeans with
low linolenic acid content.
University officials asked for an injunction against Monsanto's infringement of the
patents, monetary damages and a declaratory judgment that there has been no
settlement agreement between the two entities.
Monsanto introduced its Vistive soybeans to farmers in 2005. In January,
Omaha-based cooperative Ag Processing Inc. said it would begin processing
Vistive soybeans at four more of its nine processing plants this year: those in
Eagle Grove, Emmetsburg and Manning in Iowa and in Hastings, Neb. Vistive
beans were already being processed at plants in Mason City and Sheldon.
Repeated telephone calls to Monsanto representatives for comment were not
returned. ISU's Fehr declined to comment, as did the research foundation's
attorney, Edmund Sease.
Ken Kirkland, executive director of the research foundation, said in a prepared
statement that officials of the organization had "reached a stalemate in our
attempt to resolve a patent dispute with Monsanto over low linolenic acid
soybeans. We remain hopeful that we will be able to work out our differences,
and this has been communicated to Monsanto."
Kirkland declined to answer questions but confirmed that Monsanto had not
given financial endowments to the research foundation.
In contrast, Monsanto competitor Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. of Des
Moines, has had a long, warm relationship with Iowa State, extending back to
Henry A. Wallace, a 1910 graduate of the school who developed hybrid seed
corn and founded Pioneer, then began a political career that included eight years
as U.S. agriculture secretary and four years as vice president under President
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Through the years, Pioneer has endowed several professorial chairs at ISU and
has been a regular benefactor to the university's agricultural, engineering and
business programs.
In 1991, Iowa State and Pioneer reached an agreement that gave the company
"exclusive commercialization rights" to soybean genetic traits developed by ISU
researchers.
Pioneer and Monsanto have been prime rivals in the seed market since the late
1990s, when Monsanto spent more than $8 billion to buy several U.S. and
foreign seed companies.
In 1999, Pioneer was sold to DuPont for $7.7 billion.
Pioneer spokesman Pat Arthur said Tuesday that "we don't think we can add
anything to a lawsuit that does not involve us."
According to court documents, Iowa State professors began developing the low
linolenic acid soybeans and their producing methods as early as 1968. The
documents say the research foundation currently owns at least eight U.S. patents
covering the products, breeding and manufacturing methods.
The lawsuit says that Iowa State confronted Monsanto in February about the
patent claim and that at a subsequent meeting, "settlement terms were
discussed, but no agreement was reached."
The lawsuit says the research foundation told Monsanto that any settlement
terms would have to be cleared with Fehr.
After Monsanto was confronted again, the company's representatives sent a
letter to ISU saying Monsanto "stands ready to perform under the agreement
reached with the university at our meeting of February 28th." However, Iowa
State contends no agreement was reached.
Reporter Abby Simons can be reached at (515) 284-8136 or
asimons@dmreg.com