Monsanto vs a small farmer

[Gurdari]

Anyone familiar with the Percy Schmeiser case?
Where his land was seeded with Monsanto's GM seeds, and then sued him for violating intellectual property rights, or something like that? Maybe it was copyright infringement, something.

Heard a speech he made and it was a frightening scenario of Canadian courts throwing common sense out the window and persecuting an innocent man.

 

[Annie]

Anyone familiar with the Percy Schmeiser case?
Where his land was seeded with Monsanto's GM seeds, and then sued him for violating intellectual property rights, or something like that? Maybe it was copyright infringement, something.

Heard a speech he made and it was a frightening scenario of Canadian courts throwing common sense out the window and persecuting an innocent man.

Well after googling I was finding links all back to Mr. Schmeiser's site. Then did an advanced search for .edu and found this:

http://www.geo-pie.cornell.edu/issues/schmeiser.html

Considering all the appeals and denials, I'd be hard pressed to agree with you. Seems Canadian patents are much like ours.

 

[Gurdari]

I learned more about the story certainly. I guess the notion Monsanto is not guilty if their GM seeds infect a non-GM field bothers me. Just a little of those seeds can ruin (if they are unwanted) a large crop over a short period of time, and really - if I throw my stuff onto your property I think I lose my right to control how it's used... (even in this case when Monsanto didn't seed his field, but his neighbour). The anonymous tip sounds a bit fishy too, considering the Monsanto security personnel that showup at farmer's homes or worse - trespass and take soil samples when nobody's home. There is a bigger story here, Percy ws just a famous example - perhaps he was at fault for replanting seeds, but no way is the only guilty party here.