Percy Schmeiser Vs Monsanto Canada Inc.
Percy Schmeiser is a farmer in Saskatchewan who was found with genetically modified canola on his field. Monsanto has a patent on the canola such that farmers must sell it at the end of the year and cannot keep their grain. Schmeiser, who had claimed that the canola had blown onto his field, was found to have planted the grain without purchasing and had the intent of infringing the patent and keeping the seed for other years.
Monsanto is seeking retribution for the grain and looking to ensure that no one else is going to infringe on the patent by assuring that the patent is solidified. However they are now also striving to keep that very patent as Schmeiser is fighting to prove that it should not be legal to patent plants. Schmeiser is also fighting the article in the Monsanto patent that states that farmers must sell the genetically modified seed at the end of the growing season or by the onset of the next growing season.
There are many groups fighting on each side of this conflict. The subgroups lie as follows; allies with Schmeiser Enterprises ltd. are the Sierra Club of Canada, the National Farmers Union and the council of Canadians. As well supporting Schmeiser are some international organizations based in Winnipeg, Washington D.C. and Delhi India. These groups are concerned with environmental effects, public opinion as well as supporting Schmeiser in farmers rights.
Some very influential groups, BIOTECanada, the Canadian Canola Growers Association, the Canadian Seed Trade Association and AG-WEST BIOTEC Inc., are supporting Monsanto. These groups are bringing to the table the concerns of farmers, industry and keeping up in the global market.
Another intervener is the Governor General of Ontario. Miss Blake is basically just asking the court to not say more than they need to in the interest of modern science and modern medicine.
Schmeiser Enterprises feels that Monsanto is infringing on their rights as farmers by legally forbidding farmers from keeping their seed.
