Wallace's Farmer, IA
05-30-07
ISU Sues Monsanto Over Low Linolenic Beans
Rod Swoboda rswoboda@farmprogress.com
The Iowa State University Research Foundation is suing Monsanto Company
for patent infringement. The case, filed in federal district court in Des Moines on
May 21, claims that the St. Louis-based corporation has developed and sold
soybeans with the same low-fat characteristics as soybeans developed and
patented by two ISU professors.
The lawsuit alleges Monsanto is selling its Vistive brand low-linolenic soybean
varieties "without any license or authority from (the foundation) and now licenses
Iowa State's technology to others."
The lawsuit says ISU professors Walter Fehr and Earl Hammond have been
awarded several U.S. patents relating to soybeans with low-linolenic acid
content. University officials are asking for an injunction against Monsanto's
infringement of the patents, monetary damages and a declaratory judgment that
there has been no settlement between the two entities.
Demand growing for low-lin soybeans
Monsanto introduced its Vistive soybeans to farmers for planting in 2005. Oil
from the low-lin soybeans is being increasingly used by food manufacturers,
restaurants and other food processors because of its healthier attributes
compared to regular hydrogenated soybean oil.
Ken Kirkland, executive director of the ISU research foundation, says officials of
the ISU organization had "reached a stalemate in our attempt to resolve a patent
dispute with Monsanto over low-linolenic soybeans. We remain hopeful that we
will be able to work out our differences. This has been communicated to
Monsanto."
A high-ranking ISU official says ISU researchers examined DNA from Monsanto's
Vistive beans and found it to be identical to the low-linolenic soybean patented by
ISU. The official says the foundation brought the lawsuit after talks with
Monsanto broke down.
ISU says no agreement was reached
ISU researchers began developing the low-inolenic acid soybeans and methods
to produce these varieties as early as 1968. Court documents also say the ISU
research foundation owns at least eight U.S. patents covering the products,
breeding and manufacturing methods.
The lawsuit says ISU officials confronted Monsanto this past 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 contacted again by IAU, 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 28." However, ISU officials
contend that no agreement was reached.