TITLE: Argentina Ag Secretary
says Monsanto EU patent claims wrong AUTHOR: Taos Turner
PUBLICATION: Dow Jones Newswires DATE: 6 October 2005 URL:
http://www.thebusinessonline.com/DJStory.aspx?DJStoryID=200
51006DN016945
ARGENTINA AG SECRETARY SAYS MONSANTO EU PATENT CLAIMS WRONG
BUENOS AIRES - (Dow Jones) - Argentine Agriculture Secretary Miguel Campos met with European Union Commission officials Thursday and told them that Monsanto (MON), the leading producer of genetically modified plant seeds, is wrong to claim that it should collect royalties on Argentine soybean exports to the E.U.
Argentina exported around 10 million tons of soybeans, soyoil and soymeal to E.U. countries last year, according to Agriculture Secretariat data.
Monsanto says it deserves to collect royalties on such exports because they were produced using a type of soybean seed that it designed. The company has long complained that most farmers in Argentina use Roundup Ready without properly paying for it.
In June, Monsanto began filing lawsuits over the shipment of soybean products to the E.U., whose members recognize Monsanto's Roundup Ready patent.
Although Roundup Ready is used to plant 95% of the soybeans in Argentina, the South American nation has never granted Monsanto a patent for the seeds. As a result, Monsanto has had trouble collecting royalties on the seeds, which are often bought illegally in a huge underground seed market or simply replanted after each harvest.
Monsanto hopes the lawsuits will lead E.U. judges to declare that Monsanto should be compensated whenever soybean products are shipped to the E.U. However, Campos told E.U. officials that Monsanto's patent applies strictly to soybean seeds and not to the grain, meal or oil actually produced by them.
"The Argentine products that arrive in Europe are not included in Monsanto's patent in the E.U.," Campos told E.U. Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Agriculture Secretariat. "The actual grain, as well the meal, are totally excluded from the reach of the patent. Given European norms, Monsanto has no right to collect royalties on these Argentine products."
Campos also said Monsanto was behaving like a monopoly and should be dealt with accordingly.
Monsanto's behavior "could be considered dominant and abusive and it should merit an anti-monopoly investigation in the E.U.," the statement quoted Campos as saying.
Meanwhile, Monsanto said Thursday it believes firmly in the strength of its case.
"Our position is that as long as the (Roundup Ready) gene can be detected, if it can be found in both the seed and the grain or the meal, we have the right to collect," said Monsanto spokesman Federico Ovejero. "We think our case is pretty strong."
Still, Ovejero said Monsanto would prefer to work with farmers and government officials to reach a negotiated solution to the problem in Argentina.
"While we are still moving forward with the lawsuits, our preference is to reach a consensus agreement locally in Argentina," Ovejero said. "We're putting our effort into that."
Argentina is the world's third-ranked soybean producer and exporter.
It is also the world's leading exporter of soyoil and soymeal.
GOING FURTHER (compiled by GRAIN)
Taos Turner, "Argentina ag sec heads to EU to talk
about Monsanto suits, Dow Jones Newswires, 3 October
2005.
http://www.thebusinessonline.com/DJStory.aspx?DJStoryID=200
51003DN014478
Monsanto strikes royalty
deal for transgenic soybean seeds, St Louis Business
Journal, 30 September 2005.
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2005/09/26/d
aily80.html
Monsanto Company, "Monsanto
responds to news reports questioning patent situation on
Roundup Ready soybeans in Brazil", Monsanto news release,
St Louis, 27 September 2005.
http://www.seedquest.com/News/releases/2005/september/13616
.htm
"Groups question Roundup Ready
patent in Brazil", Bizjournal.com, 26 September 2005.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/050926/1169326.html?.v=1
Matías Longoni, "Nueva propuesta por
las patentes agrícolas", Clarín, Buenos
Aires, 21 de septiembre 2005.
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/09/21/elpais/p-02101.htm