Brazil allows Monsanto to collect soybean royalties again

The Court of Justice of the State of Mato Grosso in Brazil has ruled that Monsanto can resume collecting royalties for its Roundup Ready soybeans in the State of Mato Grosso. Monsanto will collect and temporarily place associated royalties for Mato Grosso into an escrow account, pending the outcome of the appeal process as well as full case, which will be heard in due course. The company’s appeal will now continue as a part of the ongoing process at the state and federal levels.

The Brazilian court had previously halted Monsanto from collecting royalties from the soybeans while the government and Monsanto were engaged in a legal battle over whether the patents for Roundup Ready soybeans had expired or not.

At issue is whether the Brazilian government recognizes if the patent has already expired, as many Brazilian growers believe happened in 2010, or if the patent expires in 2014, when it expires in the United States. Monsanto reports that the Brazilian law extends the patent to 2014.

“This action reinforces our confidence in our ongoing legal position and highlights that the company’s first-generation Roundup Ready soybean products are protected by various intellectual property rights under Brazilian law,” said Todd Rands, legal director for Latin America.

Monsanto also noted that the issues presented in this case do not relate to its next-generation products like Intacta RR2 Pro soybeans, which are engineered to contain insecticide and tolerate Roundup herbicide. The soybeans are in field trials with full commercial sales anticipated to begin in a year.

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