Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced today that a jury has found in favor of Monsanto in a patent infringement and validity case related to insect-protection technology in corn. The jury found that Monsanto did not infringe U.S. Patent No. 5,545,565 assigned to Bayer CropScience. The jury also found that this patent was invalid.

"The jury's findings are further confirmation that Monsanto's scientists were the first to invent the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insect-resistant corn technology and prove that it works," said Robert T. Fraley, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief technology officer for Monsanto. "This legal victory will help ensure that Monsanto can continue to deliver to farmers important crop-improvement technology - specifically the synthetic Bt gene technology that helps protect plants against insects that otherwise would lower the quality and yield of their crop."

Monsanto Company first brought insect-protected corn to the marketplace in the form of YieldGard Corn Borer in 1997. In a lawsuit filed against some of Monsanto's technology licensees in August 2000, Bayer CropScience alleged that the technology used in YieldGard Corn Borer infringed four of their patents.

On Dec. 4, 2000, Monsanto filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis for a declaratory judgment against Bayer CropScience that four patents, assigned to Bayer CropScience, involving claims to truncated Bt technology were invalid and not infringed by MON 810 in YieldGard corn.

Bayer CropScience counterclaimed to request royalties for prior sales of YieldGard corn and injunctive relief. On June 22, 2004, Bayer CropScience dismissed its claims on three of the four patents in dispute, leaving only the one in this case to be litigated.

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.