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Monsanto to be charged with biopiracy in India

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[Mods: Actual article title too big to fit in title field]

Monsanto, World's Largest Genetically Modified Food Producer, To Be Charged With Biopiracy In India (VIDEO)

Monsanto said:
Add a new word to your lexicon: Biopiracy.

That’s what U.S.-based agribusiness giant Monsanto has been accused of in India, where the government is planning to charge the company with violating the country’s biodiversity laws over a genetically modified version of eggplant.


In doing so, India has placed itself at the focal point of the movement to challenge genetically modified crops, which opponents say are destroying traditional crops and threatening farmers’ livelihoods.

...


India announced last month it is pursuing charges against Monsanto for "stealing" an indigenous crop -- eggplant -- and using it to create a modified version without permission, a violation of India’s decade-old Biological Diversity Act. It’s the first prosecution of a company for the act of "biopiracy" in the country, and possibly the world.


At the heart of the issue is the phenomenon of the commercialization of indigenous knowledge. Indian farmers argue that they developed the strains of eggplant grown in India over generations, and Monsanto has no right to come in and build a product out of their own indigenous species.


Monsanto took locally-grown eggplant “without any conformance with the biological diversity act, and therefore it is biopiracy,” said Leo Saldanha, director of the Environmental Support Group, an Indian NGO. Saldanha filed the initial complaint that prompted India to pursue charges.

Amazing! It's nice to see Monsanto finally taken to task by a major government for its unethical business practices. Now if only the U.S. government had the balls to do the same, our farmers might not be under so much attack from this corporation.
 
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[Mods: Actual article title too big to fit in title field]

Monsanto, World's Largest Genetically Modified Food Producer, To Be Charged With Biopiracy In India (VIDEO)

Amazing! It's nice to see Monsanto finally taken to task by a major government for its unethical business practices. Now if only the U.S. government had the balls to do the same, our farmers might not be under so much attack from this corporation.

This from the people complaining about megaupload being taken down is rich.
 
While I'm not opposed to genetically engineered crops or Frankenfoods, nontheless it would amuse me greatly to see the mighty and arrogant Monsanto taken down a notch. They are pushy bastards.
 
While I'm not opposed to genetically engineered crops or Frankenfoods, nontheless it would amuse me greatly to see the mighty and arrogant Monsanto taken down a notch. They are pushy bastards.

Monsanto is going to be in a world of hurt in a few years as pesticide resistant weeds and insects become more widespread. They bet the farm on GM crops, and with the growth in resistance they will lose massively.

Farmers have been very stupid in not rotating crops, and either using Bt Corn in the same field year after year, or using Round Up ready crops year after year. That has allowed the growth of the resitant pest, and will destroy Monsanto's market
 
Do intellectual property rights cover plant species? Or animal, for that matter? If I breed a new dog, can I prevent others from doing so, and hurting my business? Can I purchase the rights to a breed?
 
Do intellectual property rights cover plant species? Or animal, for that matter? If I breed a new dog, can I prevent others from doing so, and hurting my business? Can I purchase the rights to a breed?

Answer to the question is yes

Both Plants and animals can be patented and have been
 
I hope Monsanto gets a gzillion dollar judgment against it given all the lawsuits they threaten and file.

Nor do I believe nature can be patented. If you create a new species or variety, once it is in nature it is. This would particularly true if sold to be put into nature, which is what Monsanto does. Then they sue if it migrates or cross pollinated with other plants on other property.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.ph...vid:_Monsanto's_Legal_Battles_against_Farmers
 
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I hope Monsanto gets a gzillion dollar judgment against it given all the lawsuits they threaten and file.

Nor do I believe nature can be patented. If you create a new species or variety, once it is in nature it is. This would particularly true if sold to be put into nature, which is what Monsanto does.

I'm glad to hear. Do you agree I should be allowed to steal the new iPhone when it comes out for sale without legal repercussion? After all, Apple didn't invent the phone. It didn't invent talking. It didn't even invent the air that microwaves travel through. So why shouldn't I be allowed to steal the iPhone? Cause of branding? Pish-posh.
 
I'm glad to hear. Do you agree I should be allowed to steal the new iPhone when it comes out for sale without legal repercussion? After all, Apple didn't invent the phone. It didn't invent talking. It didn't even invent the air that microwaves travel through. So why shouldn't I be allowed to steal the iPhone? Cause of branding? Pish-posh.


Should Monsanto be able to sue a farmer if bees that visited a Bt Corn crop then cross pollinates the farmer`s whose crop was contaminated with Bt cross breeds

Or should the farmer be able to sue Monsanto for the contamination
 
I'm glad to hear. Do you agree I should be allowed to steal the new iPhone when it comes out for sale without legal repercussion? After all, Apple didn't invent the phone. It didn't invent talking. It didn't even invent the air that microwaves travel through. So why shouldn't I be allowed to steal the iPhone? Cause of branding? Pish-posh.

PLEASE STOP hijacking this thread with your irrelevant comparison to digital copyrights!! This is not the place for it!! Thank you.
 
PLEASE STOP hijacking this thread with your irrelevant comparison to digital copyrights!! This is not the place for it!! Thank you.


It's quite relevant, I think the concept are similiar, which is why they used the term piracy.
 
Answer to the question is yes

Both Plants and animals can be patented and have been

Good to know.


Another question, then...is there any set time limit on these, er..."natural" patents, like in other industries?
 
After Monsanto's "bio-pollution" corrupting the crops of neighboring fields, rendering the crops unable to germinate, and then unabashedly suing the neighbor farmers (putting them out of business), it's nice to see Monsanto get a taste of their own medicine.
 
Wow India makes moronic laws.

Posted from my phone

Really why

Indian farmers have taken decades to develop the particular traits in some of their crops, why should Monsanto be able to patent those traits then charge Indian farmers for the ability to use them?
 
You know, I don't want to thread hijack, be realistically, if we had as strict of IP rights laws 200 years ago as we do now....we'd probably all be dead...or at the very least, still struggling away with steam power...
 
Really why

Indian farmers have taken decades to develop the particular traits in some of their crops, why should Monsanto be able to patent those traits then charge Indian farmers for the ability to use them?

I don't think anyone should be able to prevent the use of any plant or animal, simply because it originated in India or else where.
Biopiracy is moronic.
 
I don't think anyone should be able to prevent the use of any plant or animal, simply because it originated in India or else where.
Biopiracy is moronic.

monsanto and others have been doing worse for years. They frequently patent seeds and foods and sue anyone who tries to use or modify it. How is what India is doing to them any different than what they have done to millions of others
 
monsanto and others have been doing worse for years. They frequently patent seeds and foods and sue anyone who tries to use or modify it. How is what India is doing to them any different than what they have done to millions of others

Two wrongs don't make a right.
Monsanto shouldn't be allowed to do that either.

That doesn't absolve India of being equally stupid.
 
Man I want to be a biopirate.

YARRR! HAND OVER THE GENETIC CODE OR WALK THE PLANK!
 
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Monsanto shouldn't be allowed to do that either.

That doesn't absolve India of being equally stupid.

Unfortunately, the legal system doesn't think it's stupid, and they have the final say on who can do what. So in order to protect themselves, India must use the very system Monsanto has abused to bankrupt farmers.
 
Unfortunately, the legal system doesn't think it's stupid, and they have the final say on who can do what. So in order to protect themselves, India must use the very system Monsanto has abused to bankrupt farmers.

Like I said, that doesn't make it ok.
If we are going to follow these retarded laws, who gets prosecuted first for commercializing indigenous knowledge of the wheel?

So much of what we use today, may be indigenous knowledge, that liability could be spread around to nearly everyone.
 
Like I said, that doesn't make it ok.
If we are going to follow these retarded laws, who gets prosecuted first for commercializing indigenous knowledge of the wheel?

So much of what we use today, may be indigenous knowledge, that liability could be spread around to nearly everyone.

I hear you and I relate. But if someone is granted the right to take something that is freely available, turn around and charge the same people for the use of that same thing, then it is only fair to insist on charging a fee for the use of the original source material.

Just charging for the seed itself and leaving it at that sounds fair to me. If you took the time to collect the seed, store it and distribute it, then you should be paid for that effort. But Monsanto doesn't leave it at that. They like to claim no one else can have this seed (at one time freely available - like the wheel) and drive the people who feed nations out of business with outlandish litigation. India isn't being unfair. Monsanto is. India's legal action is simply re-applying Monsanto's own legal exploit. If Monsanto doesn't like it, they need only look at themselves.
 
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