-Canadian Canola farmer Percy Schmeizer in

from Paul McCartin

You may know of Percy Schmeizer.

He is a Canadian canola farmer. Several years ago Schmeizer’s neighbor
planted a variety of canola that contained Monsanto’s Roundup-resistant
gene. Schmeizer says some of the seed blew over to his 700-acre canola
field and spread, contaminating with foreign genes seed he had been
saving since he started producing the crop in 1947.

Monsanto sued Schmeizer, claiming he was violating its intellectual
property rights for growing a kind of rapeseed that contained its
patented gene. A provincial court has ruled for the company, declaring
that regardless of how the gene found its way onto his land, Canadian
patent law provides that he is violating patent rights by growing it.

Schmeizer will be in Japan in June-July to talk about his situation. You
can find his schedule here:

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