MONSANTO PATENTS ASSERTED AGAINST AMERICAN FARMERS REJECTED BY PATENT OFFICE: PUBPAT Initiated Revie

[BadgerKid]

NEW YORK – July 24, 2007 -- The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected four key Monsanto patents related to genetically modified crops that PUBPAT challenged last year because the agricultural giant is using them to harass, intimidate, sue - and in some cases literally bankrupt - American farmers. In its Office Actions rejecting each of the patents, the USPTO held that evidence submitted by PUBPAT, in addition to other prior art located by the Patent Office's Examiners, showed that Monsanto was not entitled to any of the patents.

Monsanto has filed dozens of patent infringement lawsuits asserting the four challenged patents against American farmers, many of whom are unable to hire adequate representation to defend themselves in court. The crime these farmers are accused of is nothing more than saving seed from one year's crop to replant the following year, something farmers have done since the beginning of time.

(edit: slow link) http://www.pubpat.org/monsantorejections.htm

EDIT: Related articles:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-24-2007/0004631379&EDATE=
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_5643245,00.html

[librechik]

1. your link needs fixing

excellent news

[BadgerKid]

3. Thx. Link seems correct, is slow. n/t

[silverweb]

2. YES!!!

Even without being able to read the original article, this is good news.

WHO THE FUCK DO THESE MONSTERS THINK THEY ARE???

There is NO RIGHT to restrict farmers' crops or seeds.

[havocmom]

4. K & R

Thanks. Needed some good news today.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Couldn't happen to a nicer artificial person

The world will be a better place without Monsanto.

But first, let's fins some artificial tar and feathers to use on artificial persons like it.

[bigmonkey]

21. Do you think "pretend people" might be more effective?

That's what I'm trying.

[jpak]

6. K&R

:thumbsup:

[Judi Lynn]

7. Not a minute too soon. Thanks for the wonderful news. n/t

[NotGivingUp]

8. fuck you, monsanto. they make me sick...they're making all of us sick...

and they're destroying our ecological systems and farmers.

[malaise]

18. Ditto

although destroying the globe's ecological systems and farmers would be more accurate

[jhain]

9. YES YES YES YES YES

and YES!!!!!!!!!!!

[Canuckistanian]

10. Excellent. Any setback for Monsanto is fantastic

That company is nothing but a predatory profit machine and they're killing off traditional faming practices.

Good news.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. One for the good guys

Great news.

[GliderGuider]

12. Keep up the good work

That is wonderful news! Thank you to everyone fighting for food sovereignty!

In Canada, the National Farmers Union is working for farmers' rights to save seed. Learn more here: http://nfu.ca/seedsaver.html

You can also take action against terminator seeds. Go to: http://nfu.ca/action.html
The National Farmers Union is working with Via Campesina and the Ban Terminator campaign to stop this crime against nature.

[soothsayer]

13. death to monsatan!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

14. The evil called Monsanto needs dissolution. n/t

[OneBlueSky]

15. any bets on how long it will take the Supremes to overturn? . . . n/t

.

[otherlander]

16. WOOT!!!

:woohoo: :woohoo:

Death to terminator seeds!

[truedelphi]

17. Hoping its not too late for the human species

Pollen does not care what a patent office rules

If the pollen has escaped from some test plot somewhere - it would not even matter whether it was licensed or not

[DCKit]

26. Monsanto's Pollen

The wild corn crops in the farthest reaches of Mexico have already been polluted by Monsanto's GMO corn.

They've pretty much destroyed any chance of ever going back again to the heritage lines, but, hey, that was the intention all along.

Monsanto should be sued by the world for polluting our food crops.

[conspirator]

19. FUCK THE FILTHY CORPORATIONS. FUCK PATENTS nt

[NashVegas]

20. Wonderful News, For Now

..

[jmowreader]

22. Lawsuits against "growing" carryover are the REAL crime

Start by going to http://www.percyschmeiser.com

Percy Schmeiser is a Canadian canola farmer. His fields were contaminated by carryover "Roundup Ready" canola. Carryover of seed is fairly common in agriculture, and Monsanto knows it. Schmeiser never bought Monsanto seed, he never intentionally planted Monsanto seed, he never WANTED Monsanto seed in his field--if he did, Monsanto would have happily sold him some. But because it was in his field, Monsanto demanded Schmeiser pay a "technology licensing fee" of $15 per each acre on his farm. Schmeiser refused and they sued the shit out of him.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for a farmer who agrees to not save seed then does it anyway--there is such a thing as "contract law," and if you're dumb enough to sign a contract this restrictive you need to live up to its rules. But lawsuits against carryover? Come on.

[JohnyCanuck]

23. The Suicide Economy Of Corporate Globalisation

The Suicide Economy Of Corporate Globalisation

By Vandana Shiva

By Vandana Shiva

The Indian peasantry, the largest body of surviving small farmers in the world, today faces a crisis of extinction.

Two thirds of India makes its living from the land. The earth is the most generous employer in this country of a billion, that has farmed this land for more than 5000 years.

However, as farming is delinked from the earth, the soil, the biodiversity, and the climate, and linked to global corporations and global markets, and the generosity of the earth is replaced by the greed of corporations, the viability of small farmers and small farms is destroyed. Farmers suicides are the most tragic and dramatic symptom of the crisis of survival faced by Indian peasants.

1997 witnessed the first emergence of farm suicides in India. A rapid increase in indebtedness, was at the root of farmers taking their lives. Debt is a reflection of a negative economy, a losing economy. Two factors have transformed the positive economy of agriculture into a negative economy for peasants - the rising costs of production and the falling prices of farm commodities. Both these factors are rooted in the policies of trade liberalization and corporate globalisation.

In 1998, the World Bank's structural adjustment policies forced India to open up its seed sector to global corporations like Cargill, Monsanto, and Syngenta. The global corporations changed the input economy overnight. Farm saved seeds were replaced by corporate seeds which needed fertilizers and pesticides and could not be saved.

As seed saving is prevented by patents as well as by the engineering of seeds with non-renewable traits, seed has to be bought for every planting season by poor peasants. A free resource available on farms became a commodity which farmers were forced to buy every year. This increases poverty and leads to indebtedness.

Continued here:
http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/2004-02/19shiva.cfm

[eridani]

24. I'm tired of losing--thanks for this great news about a win! n/t

[Raksha]

25. Thanks for posting this - I really needed some good news today! n/t