Corteva sues Bayer in the US for alleged patent infringement

Corteva filed a lawsuit against Monsanto and Bayer yesterday (10/08/22) in court in the state of Delaware. Alleges misuse of patented technology to produce plants resistant to the herbicide Roundup. The deadline for the defendants to respond is 31/08/22.

Corteva's lawyers explain that this is "an action for infringement of patent 10.947.555" under United States law, as per 35 USC § 100 et seq.

This part refers to transgenic plants and "plant cells that produce AAD-1 enzymes conferring resistance to two different classes of herbicides with different modes of action: phenoxy auxin herbicides (e.g., 2,4-D) and herbicides (R) -aryloxyphenoxypropionate (e.g. quizalofop)". Corteva markets the invention in Enlist brand corn products.

Attorneys Chad SC Stover, Michael J. Flibbert, Pier D. DeRoo and Rachael P. Dippold, on behalf of Corteva, request in the action:

(a) ruling on the merits of the claim for infringement of at least one claim of the '555 patent under at least 35 USC § 271(a);

(B) award of damages appropriate to compensate Corteva for the offense committed by the Defendants; and any continuing or future infringement, including, at a minimum, reasonable royalties, with interest, costs, expenses and disbursements, as justified under 35 USC § 284;

(C) precautionary determination of notification of acts of infringement of the "555" patent;

(D) declaration that this is an exceptional case; and awarding plaintiff reasonable attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to 35 USC § 285; It is

(E) other legal or equitable measures that the Court deems fair and appropriate.

Caso: Corteva Agriscience LLC v. Monsanto Co. et al.; number 1:22-cv-01046; United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

UPDATE - 11:50am: Corteva published a note reaffirming the above. She added that "will defend its intellectual property to continue bringing farmers much-needed technology".

UPDATE - 12:10: Bayer sent the following statement:

"Bayer believes it has a strong defense against Corteva's patent infringement claims. In this case, we have our own patents covering our HT4 product concepts and we do not believe we need a license to the Corteva patent.

Our legal team is in the process of a full review of the filing to determine next steps.

Corteva's filing came just hours after we filed suit against them in Delaware state court, alleging that Corteva breached contractual obligations to Bayer related to the development and commercialization of E3 soybeans.

Bayer believes that Corteva used Bayer technology in the development of E3 soybeans.

Our process is not confidential because it contains confidential contractual details, which limits what we can discuss at this time; however, we will have more details to share in the coming weeks."

UPDATE - 14:11: Although it has not been confirmed by the company, the case referred to in Bayer's statement is probably N22C-07-168 (Bayer Cropscience LP v. Corteva, Inc.), classified by the court system as “C2 - CCLD: Complex Com. Lit. Division.”

The patent can be obtained from the link below: