The US District Court has ruled that DuPont is prohibited from stacking its Optimum GAT trait with Monsanto's Roundup Ready trait in soy or corn, but DuPont's separate antitrust and patent fraud claims were not impacted by the ruling and would, therefore, proceed.

''This litigation is just beginning; we will now vigorously pursue our antitrust, license and patent fraud claims,'' said DuPont Senior Vice President and General Counsel Thomas Sager. ''By gathering further evidence through the discovery process and proceeding quickly to trial, we will demonstrate that DuPont has the legal right to provide farmers with the best-yielding, most innovative seeds. As the court clearly indicated, the ruling does not affect DuPont's antitrust and patent fraud claims filed against Monsanto in June 2009. Nor does it affect the related ongoing US Department of Justice formal antitrust investigation involving Monsanto.''

''Monsanto's efforts in the litigation make its intent crystal-clear: to deny independent seed companies and America's farmers the ability to create and plant the seeds that work best for them,'' Sager said. ''The combination of Optimum GAT traits with Roundup Ready seeds, which Monsanto is intent on blocking, provides 6% better yield than the same seeds containing Roundup Ready alone. That is why DuPont will continue to partner with farmers and independent seed companies in order to demonstrate the anti-competitive impact of Monsanto's efforts to block better products from reaching the market.''

DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.