Dupont Asks For DOJ Intervention On Monsanto

Posted by Matt Hopkins|11 January 2010

WILMINGTON, Delaware, US: Accusing Missouri, US-based Monsanto of engaging in “anticompetitive practices” that limit innovation and raise prices in the market for genetically modified (GM) seeds, Delaware, US-based Dupont has called upon the Justice Department to intervene. Main Justice reports that Dupont-owned Pioneer Hi-Bred International says Monsanto has 98% of the market for GM traits created for soybeans, and 79% of the GM market in corn. Dupont claims Monsanto engaged in “anticompetitive practices designed to protect and extend that power.”

“Monsanto’s license agreements prevent seed companies from combining different characteristics in a single seed,” says a Dupont report filed with the Justice Department and the Department of Agriculture. The report accuses the seed giant of using restrictive licenses that shut out competitors and force farmers to pay higher prices for seeds.

In its own filing last month, Monsanto said the seed market is a competitive one. “No single company has a dominant share of seed sales in corn, soybean or cotton,” said Monsanto, which told farmers last month they could continue to use a popular soy bean product and would not have to switch to a new, more expensive, version when the patent expired.

Dupont also suggested that Congress might explore legislation that would promote generic competitors to enter the seed trait market, similar to laws governing generic drug manufacturers.