Supreme Court decision closes loophole in Monsanto’s business model

The Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion in Bowman v. Monsanto holds that farmers who lawfully obtain Monsanto’s patented, genetically modified soybeans do not have a right to plant those soybeans and grow a new crop of soybeans without Monsanto’s permission. “The Court closed a potential loophole in Monsanto’s long-standing business model, prevents Monsanto’s customers from setting up ‘farm-factories’ for producing soybeans that could be sold in competition with Monsanto’s soybeans, and it enables Monsanto to continue to earn a reasonable profit on its patented technology,” says Kevin Collins, JD, patent law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis

Anheuser-Busch, Nestlé and Monsanto to share earth-friendly strategies

When Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970, calls for “corporate social responsibility” and environmentally friendly policies fell mostly on deaf ears in the business world. Today, the green movement has moved from the fringes to the mainstream of society and to prove that point, the Olin Business School chapter of Net Impact is hosting an event, April 23, featuring major corporate executives charged with promoting corporate responsibility and sustainability.

IIT graduate begins prestigious American fellowship

Vikram Govindan, the son of Santhini and K.M. Govindan of Mumbai, has been named a McDonnell International Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis, and he has received the Monsanto/Dr. Norman Borlaug Corporate Fellowship. He holds a dual bachelor’s and master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, which is one of 15 leading Asian universities partnered with Washington University in St. Louis in the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.

Washington University in St. Louis, Monsanto Co., awarded patent for technology that creates disease-resistant crops

Washington University in St. Louis and Monsanto Co., Creve Coeur, Mo., have been issued patent 6,608,241 by the United States Patent Office. The patent is for a technique that protects crops from devastating viral diseases that currently threaten or harm many important food crops. The inventors are Roger Beachy, Ph.D., president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and professor in the department of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, and Robert T. Fraley, Ph.D., Monsanto chief technology officer and former Monsanto research scientist Stephen G. Rogers.