I'll see what I can do. :)
@redshift:
Here is a little article that came to me today re:Monsanto. Apperently their bad deeds have not gone unnoticed, and are trying to backpedal to avoid a backlash.
Quote:
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Monsanto Co. says it won’t block competitors from creating generic versions of any of its gene- modified seeds as they lose patent protection, a decision that may help mute calls for a U.S. antitrust case against the world’s largest seedmaker. For the first time farmers will be allowed to save and replant Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans after the patent expires in 2014. Rival companies will also be allowed to create their own generic versions of the seeds. Farmers criticized Monsanto in the 2008 documentary “Food Inc.” for its contracts that keep them from saving seeds after a harvest. Monsanto could have thwarted proposed generics by raising multiple patent claims or safety questions with regulators. Roundup Ready soybeans are engineered to withstand Monsanto’s Roundup, the world’s most popular weed-killer. Contracts protect its patents in part by prohibiting farmers from saving seeds from one year’s crop to plant in the next.
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Not that I think that would undue the damage they have done, and they are not saying they won't protect other patents. There is a scene in Food Inc following an Iowa farmer who had a seed washing business. Seeds need to washed and seperated at harvest to store for the next years planting. Monstato (among other things) was going around suing all the seed washers for conspiracy to infringe patents, as thier tools
could be used to assist in saving the seeds of their roundup-ready crops. [Not unlike the movie industry tried to do to kill the VHS tapes, and later the file sharing programs.]
Basically all the poor farmers just had to settle out of court and stop their business as they didn't have the money to fight in court.
Not that this token gesture should stop legal inquiries of monopolistic practices.