In a major development, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice Ravindra Bhat and Justice Yogesh Khanna has granted a stay on the restoration of the license contracts between Monsanto and seed companies as ordered by a Single Judge (Justice R.K. Gauba) on March 28, 2017. Justice Gauba had found Monsanto’s termination of its license contracts with Nuziveedu and other seed companies to be prima facie illegal and temporarily allowed these companies to continue using Monsanto’s patented Bt technology in their cotton seeds. The stay granted by the Division Bench, in an appeal filed by Monsanto, renders the contracts inoperable, bringing the parties back to status quo. The Bench is yet to decide on other issues such as whether or not the termination is legal and valid.
We’ll bring to you a detailed post on this once we get hold of a copy of the Division Bench’s order.
What’s the effect of such an order? Even if the license agreement is inoperable, there is still no finding of infringement by the DB. So there is no injunction against the Defendant. Where does this leave the parties?
Since the contract is inoperable, NSL does not have any legal right to use the technology in its proprietary seeds. The finding of the Single Judge that Monsanto’s IP rights are valid and enforceable are in force. Therefore, any sale of seeds containing Monsanto’s patented technology is illegal and in co tempt of the DB’s Order.
So, only the finding of the contract being illegally terminated has been stayed? Do the other findings of the Single Judge continue to operate?
All:
The copy of the Order is a available at:
Regards,
Sandeep K. Rathod