DuPont wins partial reversal in dispute with Monsanto

DuPont Co. persuaded a federal judge to reverse part of his ruling that its modified soybeans violated a license with Monsanto Co. for seeds that resist Roundup, the world’s best selling herbicide.

U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber in St. Louis reconsidered a Jan. 15 ruling that said DuPont’s Pioneer unit pledged not to exceed the scope of the license, according to a court docket. His ruling wasn’t published. Monsanto said the decision is “procedural” and DuPont remains in breach of the contract. DuPont called the ruling “very important.”

Monsanto, the world’s biggest seed producer, sued DuPont last year to block a plan that would use Monsanto’s Roundup Ready trait with DuPont’s GAT genetics. The DuPont technology is an alternative way for seeds to survive applications of the Roundup glyphosate herbicide.

The July 30 decision doesn’t alter the judge’s finding that DuPont isn’t allowed to combine GAT genetics with the Roundup Ready trait, a process known as “stacking,” under the terms of a 2002 license, Scott S. Partridge, Monsanto chief deputy general counsel, said in a statement.

Daniel A. Turner, a DuPont spokesman, said in a statement that Weber’s ruling “is very important because it vacated that part of his January 15, 2010, decision which concluded that there was an implied prohibition in our Roundup Ready license on stacking.”

DuPont’s other challenges will proceed, including claims by Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont that Monsanto is using its dominance in biotech seeds to stifle competition and that its Roundup Ready patent is invalid.

The judge last week granted DuPont’s request to file amended counterclaims that add detail to the company’s patent fraud allegations, Turner said. Weber also is allowing discovery on the “full scope” of DuPont’s antitrust claims, he said.