#Victory for India, Indian farmers and #Indian #Patent Regime. Let MNCs understand that seeds and lives are not patentable#GM update :DELHI HC upholds #PVP&FR Act and #India’s sovereignty and denies Monsanto’s patent over BT cotton

Plant varieties and seeds cannot be patented under Indian law by companies like Monsanto, and any royalties on GM crops will be decided by the agriculture ministry, says Delhi high court

New Delhi: Under Indian law Plant varieties and seeds cannot be patented by organisation like Monsanto Inc.. All royalties on genetically modified (GM) seeds and plant varieties will be decided by a agency of the agriculture ministry, the Delhi high court ruled on Wednesday.

The patent held by Monsanto, via its Indian arm Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech Ltd (MMBL) for Bollgard-II Bt cotton seed technology, a genetically modified variant which resists the bollworm pest, was decreed to be in India.

The division bench of Ravindra Bhat and Yogesh Khanna, however, permitted MMBL to approach the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority under the agriculture ministry for registering the variety, following which the authority will decide on a benefit-sharing mechanism. Currently, trait fees on Bt cotton seeds are decided by a price control committee under the agriculture ministry.

The court’s order came in a case filed in 2015 by Monsanto, through MMBL, against Nuziveedu Seeds and its subsidiaries for selling Bt cotton seeds using its patented technology despite termination of a licence agreement in November 2015. The order and the court’s interpretation of section 3(j) of the Patents Act, 1970, may prove to be an impediment for entry of new technology in Indian agriculture as technology developers will lose pricing freedom.

Responding to the high court order, Siddhast view is that , “It is the landmark judgement which is a Victory for India, Indian farmers and #Indian #Patent Regime cheer to millions of Indian farmers and indian sovereignty ”