Monsanto
is appealing a Brazilian court’s award of about $8 billion to soybean farmers.
About
five million Brazilian farmers are involved lawsuits to gain a return of
royalties Monsanto has collected on soybean sales.
The
appeal is expected to be heard by the federal court in 2014.
In April, another judge in the southern Brazilian state of Rio
Grande do Sul, also ruled in favor of the farmers and ordered Monsanto to return royalties paid
since 2004 or a minimum of $2 billion.
The ruling said that the business practices of seed
multinational Monsanto violate the rules of the Brazilian Cultivars Act (No.
9.456/97).
About
85 per cent of Brazil’s soybeans are grown from seeds governed by
Monsanto-owned patents.
