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Monsanto May Have To Repay 10 Years of GM Soya Royalties In Brazil

Posted by Soulskill on from the bean-counters dept.

scibri writes "Biotech giant Monsanto is one step closer to losing billions of dollars in revenues from its genetically-modified Roundup Ready soya beans, after the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled the company must repay royalties collected over the past decade. Since GM crops were legalized in 2005, Monsanto has charged Brazilian farmers royalties of 2% on their sales of Roundup Ready soya beans. The company also tests Brazilian soya beans that are sold as non-GM — if they turn out to be Roundup Ready, the company charges the farmers 3%. Farmers challenged this as an unjust tax on their business. In April a regional court ruled against Monsanto, though that ruling has been put on hold pending an appeal. The Supreme Court, meanwhile has said that whatever the final ruling is, it will apply throughout the whole country."

6 of 377 comments (clear)

  1. Too much control by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To have one company have total control over a food source is disturbing. They essentially have a monopoly and have risked destroying non GM crops through cross-contamination and I think it should be Monsanto that should be paying damages to farmers who do not want to deal with GM crops.

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    Jumpstart the tartan drive.
  2. Re:Remove the yoke of Monsanto! by Picass0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not every day you see someone make the RIAA and MPAA look like amateurs.

  3. Finally, sanity in the courts by gstrickler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know patents protect against independent invention, reverse engineering, etc. but if your product produces seed that "infects" another field or wind blows those seeds to another field, you are NOT entitled to royalties on those seeds.

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    1. Re:Finally, sanity in the courts by Overzeetop · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Monsanto shouldn't be allowed to assert rights on second generation seeds. If they want to protect their GM products, they need to make them sterile.

      Imagine if a company used their patented method to modify your genes to fix a genetic defect in you. For $100,000 they cured your diabetes. Then what would happen if they asserted that you owed them an additional $100,000 for every child you had, and every grandchild born within the patent term? If you didn't pay per child, and they were found to have the fixed gene, you owed them $150,000 each.

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      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  4. Re:Remove the yoke of Monsanto! by Jeng · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And how do those genes get in the seed?

    Are you seriously suggesting that there are illegal seed factories out there making generic versions of Monsanto's seeds?

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  5. Re:Remove the yoke of Monsanto! by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why should the farmers pay for seed that Monsanto freely pollinated? No one forced Monsanto to let their plants spread that genetic material. They could require their growers to keep their plants only indoors.

    Farmers should be able to sue Monsanto for contaminating their fields if anything.