New Delhi: US-based agro major Monsanto Technology today moved the Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court order dismissing its plea to enforce the patent for its BT cotton seeds in India.
An apex court bench comprising justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and Abhay Manohar Sapre will take up the matter May 7.
The firm moved the apex court against the April 11 order by which its plea was dismissed by the high court, which had partially allowed the counter-claims of three Indian seed companies that Monsanto does not have a patent for its BT cotton seeds, a genetically modified variant which resist bollworms.
The court had also upheld the decision of a single judge on the issue of trait fee payable to Monsanto by the companies – Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd, Prabhat Agri Biotech Ltd and Pravardhan Seeds Private Ltd – under the sub-licence with them.
The single judge had said that the Indian companies would pay trait fees to Monsanto according to government-set rates.
Monsanto wanted to charge a higher rate of trait fee under the sub-licence given to Indian companies to use its seed technology. Both sides had challenged the single judge’s order before the division bench. – PTI
