Agri-giant Monsanto, not satisfied with being one of the world’s largest agricultural corporations, is dragging hundreds of U.S. farmers into court over alleged copyright violations for repeated usage of the company’s patented seeds. In a case that has surprised a lot of observers, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear one of these complaints on Feb. 19. That case, Bowman v. Monsanto Co., was billed as a landmark battle pitting farmer Vernon Bowman against the international Ag-giant over the former’s repeated use of seeds he bought from Monsanto which the company says are only supposed to be used for one growing season. In advance of the case, The Huffington Post reported, the Center for Food Safety and the Save Our Seeds campaigning organizations released a report detailing similar cases. citeste si comenteaza …

The United States Supreme Court justices head arguments on Tuesday involving the case of a 75-year-old soybean farmer who is being sued for patent infringement by biotech giant Monsanto. Vernon Hugh Bowman of Indiana has been fighting a lawsuit from Monsanto for years, and on Tuesday it went all the way to the highest court in the United States. Monsanto, a billion-dollar biotechnology corporation perhaps best known for marketing cutting-edge agricultural products, says Mr. Bowman infringed on a patent it holds when he re-planted genetically modified “Roundup Ready” seeds manufactured by the copany. Those seeds have been created by Monsanto to be resistant to pesticides and are reported by the Associated Press to be on around 90 percent of soybean citeste si comenteaza …

Anthony Gucciardi
It has been a devastating month for Monsanto as nations around the globe continue to enact bans and restraints on the company’s genetically modified crop varieties. India, the same country that hit Monsanto with ‘biopiracy’ charges for patenting life on the planet, is the latest nation to take a stand. The nation’s new expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court of India is now calling upon the Indian government to enact a ban on all GMO crop field trials for the next 10 years. citeste si comenteaza …