ST. LOUIS (AP) — A legal ruling says contracts give Monsanto the right to stop rival DuPont from selling genetically modified soybeans built with Monsanto’s technology, but leaves open DuPont’s challenge of the restrictions on antitrust grounds.
The ruling in St. Louis federal court is the latest turn in a lawsuit between the world’s two biggest seed companies. At issue is how much freedom Monsanto Co.’s competitors have to develop crops containing their own biotech traits using Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready gene, which is inserted in the vast majority of U.S. corn and soybean crops.
The ruling says a licensing agreement between Monsanto and DuPont prohibits DuPont from breeding new crops that contain both DuPont’s patented genes and the Roundup Ready gene, which it uses under license from Monsanto. But the ruling says its not clear if that restriction is legal under antitrust law.