SAN DIEGO - A US state appeals court has tossed out a $US174.9 million judgment won by Mycogen two years ago in a patent dispute with Monsanto over a method of genetically altering crops.
The original damage award was granted to Mycogen after it claimed Monsanto delayed granting it licences when
Mycogen took over another company.
The two agricultural biotechnology companies have been involved in several patent disputes and both companies have themselves since been taken over.
A subsidiary of Dow Chemical took over Mycogen, and Pharmacia gained control of Monsanto.
Monsanto held a licence for its Bt technology, a gene that can give corn, cotton and canola plants resistance to insects. The company granted Lubrizol Genetics options to license it in 1989, but when Mycogen bought Lubrizol, Monsanto refused to grant Mycogen a licence.
Mycogen eventually received the licence, but sued Monsanto for damages a second time, arguing the delays had cut into the company's potential profits.
In its appeal, Monsanto successfully argued in that Mycogen should not have been allowed to sue twice and should not have received damages for future profits when no guarantee existed that it would make money with the technology.
Mycogen said it would appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.
- REUTERS
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