Monsanto Awarded $1 Billion Against DuPont by Jury

Source: Bloomberg News

Monsanto Co. won a $1 billion jury verdict, the biggest award by jurors in the U.S. this year, in a patent-infringement case against DuPont Co. (DD) over seeds for growing herbicide-tolerant soybeans.

The verdict was the fourth-largest jury award in a patent trial in U.S. history, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The largest patent verdict, for $1.7 billion, was awarded in 2009 against Abbott Laboratories (ABT) in a case involving the arthritis drug Humira and was later reversed on appeal.

The panel of five women and three men in federal court in St. Louis began their deliberations today and returned 45 minutes later with the verdict against DuPont, ending a four- week trial.

The trial revolved around Monsanto’s patent for making Roundup Ready crops, a technology at the heart of its $13.7 billion in annual revenue. Farmers have embraced the technology because it allows them to kill weeds with Roundup herbicide while leaving crops unscathed.

The companies are the two biggest in the $34 billion commercial seed market, which includes $13.3 billion of genetically modified seeds.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-01/monsanto-awarded-1-billion-against-dupont-by-jury