Posted by kaon
(here)
Posted by ceetee9
(here)
Posted by Kiforall
(here)
Launching a lawsuit against the very company that is responsible for a farmer suicide every 30 minutes, 5 million farmers are now suing Monsanto for as much as 6.2 billion euros (around 7.7 billion US dollars). The reason? As with many other cases, such as the ones that led certain farming regions to be known as the ‘suicide belt’, Monsanto has been reportedly taxing the farmers to financial shambles with ridiculous royalty charges. The farmers state that Monsanto has been unfairly gathering exorbitant profits each year on a global scale from “renewal” seed harvests, which are crops planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest.
http://worldtruth.tv/5-million-farme...r-7-7-billion/
Kiforall, this appears to be from June 4, 2012 (at least a quick Google search suggests this). Is there any update on where things stand today that you know of?
The case was heard yesterday, and a decision won't be rendered until June.
Here's another article:
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Tuesday didn't appear swayed that an Indiana soybean farmer can replant herbicide-resistant seeds covered by Monsanto Co. MON -3.17% technologies without violating its patents rights.
Monsanto requires growers to use the Roundup Ready seeds only for a single crop, and they can't use the later generation seeds generated from previous harvests. Monsanto imposes the conditions because its technology, which renders crops resistant to weed killer, reproduces itself in each generation of seeds.
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Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Vernon Bowman walks by the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington Tuesday, where arguments were heard in his case against Monsanto.
If farmers could replant later-generation seeds, they could avoid paying for Monsanto's biotechnology in future plantings, the company's lawyer, Seth Waxman, argued to the high court.
"Without the ability to limit reproduction of soybeans containing this patented trait, Monsanto could not have commercialized its invention, and never would have produced what is, by now, the most popular agricultural technology in America," Mr. Waxman said.
During oral arguments Tuesday, the justices considered the planting tactics of Vernon Bowman, who appealed to the high court after Monsanto sued him for patent infringement and won an $84,000 judgment.
For riskier late-season crops, Mr. Bowman bought and planted soybeans from a grain elevator that housed seeds harvested by other farmers. Those soybeans were a mix that included some containing Monsanto's technology. Mr. Bowman saved the later generation seeds from that harvest and planted them in subsequent years, suspecting they would be herbicide-resistant.
Justices across the ideological spectrum suggested Mr. Bowman infringed Monsanto's patents because his later generation plantings produced new seeds that copied Monsanto's technology.
Chief Justice John Roberts said companies wouldn't develop such technologies if others could just copy the invention without paying for it.
"Why in the world would anybody spend any money to try to improve the seed if as soon as they sold the first one anybody could grow more and have as many of those seeds as they want?" the chief justice asked.
Justice Elena Kagan voiced similar concerns, openly disagreeing with the farmer's position that Monsanto had legal remedies other than patents to protect its inventions.
Justice Kagan, however, also said the ubiquity of Monsanto's seeds raised concerns about the company's "capacity to make infringers out of everybody."
"Seeds can be blown onto a farmer's farm by wind, and all of a sudden you have Roundup seeds there and the farmer is infringing," she said.
Mr. Bowman's lawyer, Mark Walters, said Monsanto's theory of its patent rights was limitless, given the self-replicating nature of its technology.
Under the company's position, "any farmer who grows a soybean seed is infringing the patent but for the grace of Monsanto," Mr. Walters said. "And that's a lot of farmers in this country, when we have over 90% of the acreage that is Roundup Ready."
The Obama administration largely supported Monsanto in the case and joined in arguing for the company at Tuesday's session.
Industries from software to biotechnology have been watching the case closely because it potentially holds broad implications for any patented invention that self-replicates or is easily copied.
A decision is expected by the end of June.
Link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj
5 Million Farmers Sue Monsanto
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. It's hard not to get disappointed these days when you see some lonely man going against a big corporation, but yes, 5 million people awakening and knowing better is a cause for celebration. 
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