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Monsanto Co., which is suing to prevent DuPont Co. from producing soybean seeds that combine the companies’ herbicide-resistant traits, said DuPont’s antitrust counterclaim may slow the case by years and confuse jurors.
Monsanto, the world’s biggest seed maker, wants the patent and antitrust claims separated. Some antitrust claims may be dismissed after the first phase of litigation, wasting the court’s time, Monsanto attorney Dan Webb told U.S. Judge Richard Webber in St. Louis on Wednesday.
Combining the claims “ignores the rights to a quick patent trial,” Webb said. “Discovery would extend two or three times beyond what is needed.”
Monsanto, based in St. Louis, filed a complaint in May accusing DuPont of violating a 2002 license by using Monsanto’s Roundup Ready trait with DuPont’s GAT genetics in soybeans. GAT genetics were designed to be an alternative to Roundup Ready crops, which tolerate applications of glyphosate herbicide, known as Roundup.
DuPont, the world’s second-largest seed producer, said it has the right to use Monsanto’s trait. Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont also claimed the Monsanto patent is invalid and the company is misusing its patent rights to control the markets for “virtually every commercially important agricultural biotech trait in corn and soybeans.”
The dispute highlights competition in the $8.3 billion market for biotech seeds that ward off insects or withstand the application of weed killers. More than 90 percent of soybeans and 80 percent of corn in the U.S. are genetically modified.
The St. Louis jury should be allowed to hear the legal claims “as an integrated whole, not piecemeal,” said James Denvir, an attorney for DuPont. Putting the antitrust claim on hold “would be a very real prejudice,” he said.
Webber said he was “not convinced” either way. He didn’t provide the attorneys with a timeline for his ruling.
Last month, the U.S. Justice Department said it would examine competition in several agricultural markets, including corn and soybeans. Wednesday’s hearing didn’t address any part of the probe, which will include looking into the ability of buyers to control prices and the impact of large corporate farms on medium-sized family farms.
In court filings, DuPont has said Monsanto used “fraudulently obtained Roundup Ready patents” to obtain a monopoly and is seeking to extend it by challenging “stacking rights,” in which GAT is combined with Roundup Ready traits. DuPont claims that its seeds produce higher yields and offer tolerance to other herbicides needed to attack weeds that have become resistant to glyphosate.
The case is Monsanto Co. v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., 09-cv-686, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis).
