CEO: Monsanto Will Prevail in Brazil Patent Dispute

Posted by Matt Hopkins|7 December 2017

U.S. seeds company Monsanto Co. is confident Brazilian courts will uphold its Intacta RR2 PRO soy seed patent despite a challenge from grain growers in the state of Mato Grosso, the company’s chief of South American operations said on Wednesday, and reported by Ana Mano on Reuters.com. The Brazilian patents office, known as INPI, had conducted a rigorous analysis before granting the technology patent protection, Rodrigo Santos, chief executive officer of Monsanto’s South American operations, said on Wednesday.

“We have confidence that the Brazilian legal system will recognize our right to patent protection,” Santos said on the sidelines of an event in São Paulo. “We have patent protection for the Intacta technology in many other countries and they too conducted rigorous analyses.”

This year, some 170,000 Brazilian farmers adopted the Intacta genetically modified seed technology, he said. In South America, the area using the technology is estimated at 22 million hectares, he added.