Yesterday, Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON - News) won a key patent dispute over Bayer CropScience regarding herbicide-tolerant corn. The unanimous decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office upheld the patent rights and priority of Monsanto's DEKALB Genetics subsidiary for glufosinate-tolerant corn, and rejected claims for patentability of the same technology by Bayer's affiliate Plant Genetics Systems NV (PGS).

"We're delighted that this dispute finally has been resolved in Monsanto's favor," said Robert T. Fraley, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief technology officer for Monsanto. "We're pleased for the team of devoted scientists at DEKALB who were intimately involved in the innovations that created the first glufosinate-tolerant corn, including the issuance of the '318 patent, and the subsequent commercial herbicide-tolerant corn products that have been marketed by other seed corn companies since the mid-1990s."

Glufosinate is a herbicide manufactured and sold by Bayer under the trade name Liberty. Crops containing tolerance to this herbicide are referred to as "Liberty Link" crops. Based on industry estimates, roughly 1.2 million U.S. acres were planted to Liberty Link corn in 2002. Another 3.4 million acres in the United States used glufosinate resistance as a selectable marker for certain insect-protected corn events during 2002, such as Herculex and BT11, which are licensed under prior agreements negotiated with Monsanto.

"Beneficial products developed using our patented technology are important to farmers and other companies engaged in the improvement of corn, and Monsanto has a well-established track record of broadly licensing our technologies to corn seed companies," Fraley said.

The patent interference issue was originally declared on July 9, 1997, and involves U.S. Patent No. 5,550,318 assigned to DEKALB and an application assigned to PGS, whose successor in interest is Bayer.