Monsanto, ICI agree on glyphosate patents

Monsanto and ICI have reached a settlement that protects Monsanto's patents on glyphosate, the active ingredient in its premier herbicide, Roundup, but gives a license to ICI to sell its own version of a glyphosate herbicide in the U.S. beginning in the 1990s. The settlement stems from a patent infringement suit filed by Monsanto in 1983 against Stauffer Chemical, which had begun marketing an herbicide called Touchdown. Stauffer's agricultural chemicals unit and its Touchdown business were acquired by ICI last year. The case was important to Monsanto because its crop chemicals unit, although supplying just 15% of corporate sales in 1987, contributed almost 49% of operating income. Roundup sales and income are major factors in these numbers. As part of the settlement agreement, the Federal District Court in St. Louis has entered a final judgment decreeing that Monsanto patents involved in the suit are valid, enforceable, and were infringed on by Stauffer's Touchdown herbicide. However, ...