Soybean patent to expire this year

Thursday, January 6, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

When Monsanto’s 20-year patent on Roundup Ready soybeans comes to an end this August, it will be a world first for a widespread plant biotechnology trait to go off patent, so the company is doing its best to explain the rules of this particular endgame to farmers.

The first lesson is that this year’s crop will be subject to patent rules.

Erin Romeo, intellectual property protection manager for Monsanto Canada, says that even though the patent expires in August 2011, farmers using the technology in 2011 will be doing so during the life of the patent. That means they can’t save seed.

They can buy Roundup Ready soybeans in 2012, when it is off patent, and save seed from that crop to plant in 2013.

“Focus on the date spring of 2013,” Romeo said. “The patent comes off in August 2011 but that is just the start of things. The important date for farmers and when they get to make choices is really spring 2013.”

Of course, if they are planting Monsanto’s newer version, Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans, they are covered by a different patent that is still in force and Monsanto will continue to do field tests to make sure everyone plays by the rules.

Monsanto announced today that it has launched a website to explain the protocols and timeline around the patent expiry.

More than 60 per cent of Canada’s soybean acreage uses the Roundup Ready technology, the company’s news release states. BF