Monsanto Claims $1 Billion Verdict

ST. LOUIS (CN) - Monsanto said a federal jury awarded it $1 billion in a patent case against DuPont Pioneer.

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DuPont Pioneer, formerly known as Pioneer Hi-Bred International, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont, Monsanto said in a statement announcing the Aug. 1 verdict.

The trial centered on Monsanto's patented Roundup Ready technology, which protects crops, including alfalfa, corn, cotton, soybean, canola, and sugar beets, against Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. Monsanto licenses the patent.

But it claims claimed DuPont knowingly violated patent to try to patch up problems with DuPont's own Optimum GAT technology.

"This verdict ... underscores that DuPont's unauthorized use of the Roundup Ready technology was both deliberate and aimed at rescuing its own failed technology,"

Monsanto's general counsel David Snively said in a statement.

"The materials uncovered from DuPont files during this case highlight that DuPont's senior leaders were actively working to hide the fact their OGAT technology had failed and were using elaborate schemes to cover that up with the unlicensed use of our technology. They knew the OGAT technology didn't work for years, but opted to tell a much different story to their customers and to Wall Street," Snively said.

Monsanto sued DuPont in 2009. The two are major competitors in chemicals.

Monsanto claimed that the jury verdict was the third time a court has determined that DuPont or DuPont Pioneer violated a licensing agreement with Monsanto.

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