Seventy-five family farmers, seed businesses and agricultural
organizations representing more than 300,000 individuals and 4,500 farms
filed a brief
on July 5 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in
Washington, D.C. asking the appellate court to reverse a lower court’s
decision from February dismissing their protective legal action against
agricultural giant Monsanto’s patents on genetically engineered seed.
The plaintiffs brought the preemptive case against Monsanto
in March 2011 in the Southern District of New York and specifically
seek to defend themselves from nearly two dozen of Monsanto’s most
aggressively asserted patents on genetically modified organism (GMO)
seed. They were forced to act preemptively to protect themselves from
Monsanto’s abusive lawsuits, fearing that if GMO seed contaminated their
property despite their efforts to prevent such contamination, Monsanto
would sue them for patent infringement.
