Did Schmeiser Intentionally or Knowingly Violate Monsanto’s Rights?
Was the court wrong to rule in favor of Monsanto? Schmeiser’s advocates argue that he simply saved the seed from the previous year and that he had no contractual obligation to Monsanto since he hadn’t purchased their seed. Apparently, Monsanto’s Roundup Ready canola entered or was introduced to Schmeiser’s land when it was blown off of trucks or wagons of other farmers who were taking their Roundup Ready canola to the local grain elevator. His friends describe Percy Schmeiser as an innocent bystander who had the bad luck to be downwind of Monsanto’s crops. But the court documents show that the case is much more complicated than the folk tale would suggest. The court did not accept Schmeiser’s claim to be an innocent bystander because it regarded his story as inconsistent with the finding that 95-98% of his 1,030 acre crop was pure Roundup Ready canola. The court concluded that Schmeiser must have used Roundup to select for Monsanto’s Roundup Ready gene and that he segregated what he kn
