DuPont, citing what it said were errors, plans to appeal a $1 billion verdict against it in a seed lawsuit filed by rival Monstanto.
A federal jury in Monsanto’s hometown of St. Louis handed down the verdict. Such verdicts typically go through a lengthy appeal process, given the resources of major corporations.
“DuPont believes that the evidence presented during the trial demonstrated clearly that Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybean patent (RE 39,247) is invalid and unenforceable and that Monsanto intentionally deceived the United States Patent and Trademark Office on several occasions as it sought patent protection. Further, DuPont believes that the damages awarded of $1 billion are unjustified, particularly considering that Pioneer has never sold a single Optimum GAT seed and has no plans to do so in the future. DuPont’s license to sell Roundup Ready soybeans remains in place and is not impacted by this verdict,” said DuPont Senior Vice President and General Counsel Thomas L. Sager.
Several aspects of Monsanto’s misconduct involving this patent, which were not tried in this case, will be presented to a different jury as part of DuPont’s antitrust and patent misuse case against Monsanto in September 2013, the company noted.
“DuPont will continue to fight hard to ensure American farmers have choices and that no one company decides what is best for them,” said Sager.
