$2 billion judgment against Monsanto

[Pakanohida]

Brazilian farmers win $2 billion judgment against Monsanto

by Mohammed Ismail on Jun 15, 2012 • 8:18 am

http://www.qwmagazine.com/2012/06/15...st-monsanto-2/

Five million Brazilian farmers have taken on US based biotech company Monsanto through a lawsuit demanding return of about 6.2 billion euros taken as royalties from them. The farmers are claiming that the powerful company has unfairly extracted these royalties from poor farmers because they were using seeds produced from crops grown from Monsanto’s genetically engineered seeds, reports Merco Press.

In April this year, a judge in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, ruled in favor of the farmers and ordered Monsanto to return royalties paid since 2004 or a minimum of $2 billion. The ruling said that the business practices of seed multinational Monsanto violate the rules of the Brazilian Cultivars Act (No. 9.456/97)

[permasculptor]

Monsanto has appealed against the order and a federal court ruling on the case is now expected by 2014

Business as usual I suspect. take the problem to daddy and get it swept under the rug or transformed into a war.Hope I'm wrong.

[Michaelangelica]

Great business model; no wonder the US loves copyright law

Monsanto not only charges an initial royalty on the sale of the crop produced, but a continuing two per cent royalty on every subsequent crop, even if the farmer is using a later generation of seed.
Producers are in effect paying a private tax on production

I thought that people were not allowed to save GM seed??
Perhaps Brazil is an exception, because of their laws??

[Pakanohida]

Business as usual I suspect. take the problem to daddy and get it swept under the rug or transformed into a war.Hope I'm wrong.

At least it was a win for today.

[Unmutual]

Great business model; no wonder the US loves copyright law

I thought that people were not allowed to save GM seed??
Perhaps Brazil is an exception, because of their laws??

“Monsanto gets paid when it sell the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again). Producers are in effect paying a private tax on production,” Jane Berwanger, lawyer for the farmers told the media agencies. - from this article on the same thing. I assume that's part of the Brazilian Cultivars Act (No. 9.456/97).