Sued for saving seeds

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

NY Times, November 2, 2003
Saving Seeds Subjects Farmers to Suits Over Patent
By ADAM LIPTAK

TUPELO, Miss., Oct. 30 ? Homan McFarling has been farming here all his 
life, growing mostly soybeans along with a little corn. After each harvest, 
he puts some seed aside.

"Every farmer that ever farmed has saved some of his seed to plant again," 
he said.

In 1998, Mr. McFarling bought 1,000 bags of genetically altered soybean 
seeds, and he did what he had always done. But the seeds, called Roundup 
Ready, are patented. When Monsanto, which holds the patent, learned what 
Mr. McFarling had sown, it sued him in federal court in St. Louis for 
patent infringement and was awarded $780,000.

The company calls the planting of saved seed piracy, and it says it has won 
millions of dollars from farmers in lawsuits and settlements in such cases. 
Mr. McFarling's is the first to reach a federal appeals court, which will 
consider how the law should reconcile patented food with a practice as old 
as farming itself.

If the appeals court rules against him, said Mr. McFarling, 61, he will be 
forced into bankruptcy and early retirement.

"It doesn't look right for them to have a patent on something that you can 
grow yourself," he said.

Janice Armstrong, a Monsanto spokeswoman, said the company invested 
hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the seed. "We need to protect 
our intellectual property so that we can continue to develop the next wave 
of products," she said.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/02/national/02SEED.html


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