[Commons-Law] Monsanto,MRTPC and monopoly

[ravi srinivas]

http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/17/stories/2006051704861400.htm

New Delhi: Mahyco Monsanto Biotech-India Ltd. has moved the Supreme Court
against a temporary order passed by the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade
Practices Commission (MRTPC) restraining it from charging Rs. 900 for a
packet of 450 gm of Bt cottonseed.

Monsanto, a U.S.-based company formed a joint venture with Mahyco, a seed
company trading in India, and formed the Mahyco Monsanto Biotech-India Ltd.
and this company had entered into agreements with several companies for
selling Bt cotton.

Acting on an application filed by the Andhra Pradesh Government, the
Commission, in its May 11 order, had directed the company not to charge
trait value of Rs. 900 per packet of 450 gm of Bt cottonseeds from farmers
in India during the pendency of the proceedings.

Questions jurisdiction

Assailing this order, Mahyco, in its appeal, said the Commission had no
jurisdiction to adjudicate on the issue because "licensing of technology
does not fall under the classification of goods or services." It said that
the agreement between the appellant and sub licensees related to technology
and know-how transfer and and there was no trade in goods.

The company pointed out that it was not dealing with any goods. The trait
value/royalty was being charged not for sale of any goods but on account of
transfer of know-how and technology to the sub licensees, which they further
incorporated into their own seeds.

The term royalty could not be applied since there was no patent of the
technology of the appellant in India.

It maintained that there was no provision in law that the inventor of a new
and useful product could not allow a person to use his product on payment of
a fee for such use, regardless of the fact whether the inventor held a
patent under the Indian law or not.

Further there was no rule or guideline to determine the prices that a
technology provider could charge from its sub licensees.

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Such an argument from Monsanto was not unexpected. It claims that there was
no trade in goods.In one sense

but the seeds are physical entities that embody the trait.The trait is not
an abstract entity or just an idea that

could be reproduced.Monsanto has no patent in India on this
technology.Idont know whether they have protected

the germplasm under trade secrets. On the other hand Monsanto has blocked
imports of GM soya from Argentina

into Europe where it has patents on GM soya, but it does not have patents on
the same in Argentina. It claims

that such exports, irrespective of proposed use, are infringments. How does
one assess the economic value

of trait and the value of the trait for the farmers. In the absence of a
patent what exactly are the rights of Monsanto

in India. The term 'rights of the inventor' sound too broad and unclear. If
some one uses this technology without permission or license

from Monsanto , in the absence of a patent, will that amount to infringment.
What is the legal position in India.



ravi srinivas
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