• KillerTofu@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Also Monsanto has people go out and collect samples off farms that didn’t buy their seed and then sue them into either submission or destruction if they don’t pay anyway. So yeah, it’s cheaper either way to just buy their seed.

    • IMongoose@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Possibly, but there is no proof of this. In all the court cases Monsanto has won (which is apparently all of them), the defendant was trying to scam the company.

      https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2024/01/05/dissecting-claims-about-monsanto-suing-farmers-for-accidentally-planting-patented-seeds/

      They have a disclaimer (which is not legally binding though) that they will not go after accidental cross pollination.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        the defendant was trying to scam the company.

        No, that’s a lie. Monsanto may have characterized it as “scamming,” but I don’t give a fuck about monopolists’ opinions and neither should anybody else.

        Even intentionally preferentially gathering and replanting “Monsanto’s” “patented” seeds is not wrong, end of!

        • IMongoose@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          These are public court cases, Monsanto isn’t characterizing anything. The ones I’ve seen are deliberate attempts to use the seeds without paying. Do you have examples of a farmers livelihood destroyed by Monsanto? Because it doesn’t seem good business to me for them to attack random farmers. I implore you to look at the link I posted or google it yourself.

          • grue@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            The ones I’ve seen are deliberate attempts to use the seeds without paying.

            Yes, I know. Re-read my last sentence.

            • IMongoose@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              Ok, again, no one is forcing these farmers to use the seeds. They have every opportunity to use their own heirloom seeds that they can replant forever, but they don’t because even when paying for seeds the GMO ones bring in more money. It’s a business, if they want to use them they need to pay. It’s ok to fundamentally disagree with seeds as a service but recognize (as the courts did) that this applies to all IP. Just owning a product doesn’t give you the right to duplicate and redistribute it.