May 11, 2006

Syngenta defeats Monsanto in GM corn patent suit

A federal judge in US state Delaware ruled for Syngenta and against Monsanto Wednesday (May 10) in a dispute over the rights to a herbicide-resistant strain of GM corn.

US District Court Judge Sue Robinson granted Syngenta's bid for a pre-trial victory in the case, ruling that it did not infringe a Monsanto patent in its work with GA21, an engineered strain that is resistant to the herbicide glyphosate.

In a 2004 press release announcing the filing of its patent infringement suit against Syngenta, Monsanto said it wanted rights to genetic corn modification technology allegedly breached by its biotechnology rival.

However, St. Louis-based Monsanto said the GA21 technology had "largely been phased out of the marketplace" already.

Syngenta purchased rights to the GA21 technology from Bayer CropScience.

In addition to granting Syngenta summary judgment on the grounds of non-infringement, the Delaware federal judge Wednesday ruled the patent Monsanto was wielding did not reach Syngenta's corn engineering technology.