What are the Downstream Implications for Monsanto?
What will Monsanto be able to do now, that it couldn¹t or didn’t do before? Not much. 1. Intellectual Property. Monsanto has consistently played by their own rules, although their interpretation of the Patent Act has now been legitimized by 5 of 9 Supreme Court justices. Monsanto has chosen to take action against Canadian farmers based on whole plant contamination, despite specifically disclaiming this intent in their actual Canadian patent. Now they can continue to do this legally. Monsanto justifies this behavior as essential to protect their intellectual property. That must be a revelation to the other two companies which market herbicide tolerant canola in Canada, neither of which employs the Patent Act to protect their intellectual property nor feels compelled to prosecute farmers whose fields are inadvertently contaminated with their patented genes. a. Bayer (formerly Aventis) protects its Liberty Link canola (tolerant to glufosinate ammonium) by placing the herbicide tolerant ge
