Cargill Contests Canola Patent Verdict

Cargill Contests Canola Patent Verdict

MINNEAPOLIS Cargill plans toappeal a federal court decision that patents surrounding its Clear Valley®canola oils are unenforceable because Cargill did not submit all of its producttesting data on Clear Valley to the U.S. Patent Office. The new ruling allowsDow AgroSciences to use technologies purportedly protected by Cargillspatents, in spite of a previous federal court ruling that ordered Dow to payfines for using the technologies.

In the earlier ruling, a federal court decided Natreon®canola oil from Dow AgroSciences infringes on two of four patents held byCargill for the Clear Valley product line, and the jury awarded Cargill $2million in damages.However, the new ruling permits Dow to declare Cargillspatents invalid.

The ruling is mystifying, said Greg Page, chiefoperating officer (COO) for Cargill (www.clearvalleyoils.com). Cargillsubmitted all the relevant data to the Patent Office, derived from most highlyreliable testing technology and procedures available. We had valid reasons for[withholding] the unsubmitted data ... the results of some less precise tests onfrost-damaged or immature seed samples was inaccurate and unreliable comparedwith the reams of other testing data we submitted. ... We strongly believe theruling is contrary to the law and will be overturned on appeal.

The appeals process is expected to last approximately oneyear.