Monsanto temporarily suspends seed royalties in Brazil

While Monsanto pursues its appeal in a preliminary ruling from a state appellate court in Mato Grosso, Brazil, it is temporarily suspending royalty collections for its first-generation of Roundup Ready soybeans in Mato Grosso. The suspension was ordered as part of the court’s preliminary ruling, and Monsanto is working to comply with the ruling.

The company seeks to re-establish the royalty collections during the time that the trial is heard by the original Mato Grosso state court. A decision over the appeal is expected to be confirmed in the next few weeks.

During the appeals process, Monsanto announced it will also temporarily suspend its royalty collections for first-generation Roundup Ready soybeans throughout the country of Brazil.

“Previous rulings in Brazil have been clear and recognized Monsanto’s intellectual property rights as well as established its ability to collect royalties for its products,” said Todd Rands, Monsanto’s legal director for Latin America. “In the interim, we will continue to comply with the court’s initial ruling. We will reserve our rights to re-establish royalty collections to the extent the courts allow us to do so in future rulings.”

Growers groups in Brazil brought the lawsuit against Monsanto and suggested that Monsanto was overstepping with its royalty collections. Both the company and the grower groups have differing interpretations of the intellectual property rights that Monsanto holds on Roundup Ready soybeans.

Brazilian law allows for Monsanto’s intellectual property rights for Roundup Ready soybean to continue through 2014.

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