In the OSGATA v. Monsanto case, the plaintiffs are pursuing preemptive relief against Monsanto, asserting that they should not be held liable for patent infringement if Monsanto's seeds blow onto their fields - alleging that Monsanto's product had trespassed onto their property rather than them having stolen Monsanto's.
Recently, OSGATA et. al. has submitted a petition for certiorari due to a lower court's ruling that it had no standing to sue Monsanto because the corporation had promised to not sue, and that "There is neither a history of behavior nor a reasonable likelihood that Monsanto will pursue patent infringement against farmers who have no interest in using the company's patented seed products." However, taking into past developments and suits, it seems unlikely that Monsanto will refrain from filing against farmers in the future.
3 comments:
I was happy to see this post because for years I have heard about Monsato and their absolute dominance over the agricultural market, which I honestly think is unfair. They are aggressive to the point where the Aljazeera article claims that we may not have a choice in what kind of produce we would like to eat due to the fact that Monsato basically edges out all the competition. That would be devastating for the farmers of OSGATA and just the agricultural industry in general. I also think it's important that the article pointed out how if GE products were labelled, Monsanto sales would drop from their massive profits in 2012. For someone like me I would say I'm more concerned with the information that Monsanto has been withholding from the public. Our consumption of food is inextricably linked to public health, and I do hope that the OSGATA can gain momentum in this case so that Monsanto can at least reveal information that should be public. I agree with Nathan that Monsanto will continue to abuse its power to file against farmers. While they claim that farmers are "looking for controversy where it doesn't exist," I beg to differ. Farmers are being pushed out of their livelihoods and many of them have given up certain crops because of Monsantos actions. I honestly fear the day that more and more produce becomes controlled by Monsanto, and I hope that this case will not "close quietly" like the other ones have.
Unfortunately, it is well known that Monsanto fuels millions of dollars into international campaigns praising GMOs and that Monsanto pursues legal action against farmers involved in so-called “patent infringement.” The Monsanto monopoly has been a story in the news for quite some time. In fact, they were recently voted as 2013’s ‘most evil corporation’ by a Natural News poll (The polling was obviously done by a group with an environmental agenda, but the point is that Monsanto’s image as a demonic corporation is well-cemented in mainstream culture). I’ve been particularly wary to take a side on this issue. While on the one hand, the odds are clearly stacked against the farmers, big-name agriculture represents a significant foundation of the American economy. But, before the Monsanto hate rains down and regardless of whether Monsanto has a stake in wallets of US policy makers (and it probably/certainly does), it’s also important to consider that they hold leverage simply based on their economic weight simply by being the forefront of the GMO industry, and it’s difficult to criticize policy makers who are forced to take this into perspective.
This Q&A was also on RT recently, and I thought it was worth a read to get a perspective on some of Monsanto’s policies from one side.
http://rt.com/op-edge/monsanto-gmo-ecology-profit-411/
The image Nathan posted is also worthy of consideration:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/monsantos-contributions-to-us-house-and-senate-candidates/5336404
On the other hand, here’s Monsanto’s website:
http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/Pages/default.aspx
The last link Brandon posted, to the video on Monsanto's site, leaves me with the impression that they're trying a bit too hard to convince that they are doing great work to "improve lives," as they claim. I like to argue and believe that if we, the consumers, really wanted to, we could take Monsanto down with our purchases. Unfortunately, with Monsanto that's essentially an implausible option.
I was certainly turned off by Monsanto when I saw the movie, "Food Inc" a few years ago (here's link to a long clip about Monsanto from the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ_QchB7iLg) but have since decided that while Monsanto still is not a model company by any means, Food Inc was perhaps a bit hyperbolic in its presentation.
In terms of Monsanto's policies in forcing farmers to buy seeds each season, and that whole aspect of the legal situation with the patents etc., I am fully turned off by their actions.
I will say that I am less up-in-arms about the GMO aspect of Monsanto. GMOs are not always "the devil's spawn" as I think too many people claim. I think it is the way of the future, and while we need to get our legislation sorted out on that front, it needs to be faced and embraced to some degree. Instead of fighting them, we can create safe products and the best possible system.
Post a Comment