Blog - Agricultural Legal Counsel

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Happy Thanksgiving: A Heartfelt Thank You and a Fun Trivia Treat!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And a big Thank You to our friends, family and clients! We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll be back next week and in the meantime, we’ll leave you with a bit ‘o trivia to pass around after dinner. Cape Law’s Bit ‘O Trivia ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S QUESTION: Congratulations to Marty Eaton of Cache River Valley Seed, for the correct answer to last week’s question, Who is the oldest person to ever win the world heavyweight boxing championship? George Forman. In 1994, at 45 years, 5 months, 18 days, “Big George” became the oldest person to win the WBA, IBF, and lineal heavyweight championship titles by knocking out Michael

joelcape December 2, 2024

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Not All Post-Patent Royalties Are Post-Patent Royalties

It has been roughly 3 decades since the broad roll-out of patent-protected agricultural seed in commodity crops fundamentally changed how seed was marketed and used. Royalties, especially annual royalties for a license to plant seed, became a ubiquitous business model for the supply chain delivering seed to farmers. However, when the patent expires, so does the right to charge royalties for those patent rights. So far, there have been only a few examples of this scenario playing out in the seed business. This year two federal appeals courts addressed the prohibition on post-patent royalties in cases involving the licensing of multiple patents, including expiring U.S. patents. In Ares Trading S.A. v.

joelcape November 18, 2024

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New Restrictions Passed for Treated Seed in California

California recently passed a new law (AB 1042) adding restrictions on the sale and use of pesticide-treated seed in the State. Beginning January 1, 2026, seeds treated with a pesticide cannot be sold, delivered, or used in the state unless the pesticide is registered with California’s agencies. The law also requires the state Director of Pesticide Regulation to prohibit treated seed containing a pesticide that meets certain criteria (dangerous, non-beneficial, etc.). Starting on January 1, 2025, growers will also be required to submit reports to county agricultural commissioners when treated seeds are planted. These grower reports will be compiled into annual reports for publication, indicating: Pounds of pesticides applied as

joelcape November 5, 2024

Agriculture

Third Circuit Court of Appeals Takes an Uncharted Path to FIFRA Preemption

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit (encompassing Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) is one of the latest appellate courts to consider an appeal in the Roundup cancer cases. The primary issue in the appeal is a familiar one – whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts a state law duty to warn. This argument has been raised many, many times in trial and appellate courts around the country. The overwhelming majority have found that FIFRA does not preempt state law duties to provide adequate warnings for pesticide products. But in Schaffner v. Monsanto Corp., 113 F.4th 364 (3rd Cir. 2024), the

joelcape October 28, 2024

Agriculture

Corn Seed War Enters the Trenches

Corteva’s federal lawsuit against Inari is heading into the discovery phase with the Delaware district court’s denial of Inari’s motion to dismiss the case. As we’ve reported previously, this case raises some fascinating (geeked-out) issues regarding the overlapping intellectual property protection available for plants, particularly patents and Plant Variety Protection (PVP). The court’s ruling was quick to hone in on the unanswered question at the heart of the lawsuit: We want inventors to share their ideas with the world rather than keep them secret. So in exchange for limited exclusivity, inventors teach us how the trick was done. Competitors get the benefit of that knowledge. And they may make improvements, and

joelcape September 16, 2024

Agriculture

A Looming Federal Food Fight

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris recently announced one of her economic priorities is a proposed a federal ban on “price gouging” on food and groceries. Although specific details of the plan are somewhat vague, it appears that Harris’ plan will include some form of price control on food. As most Americans know, food prices have risen dramatically following the pandemic and consumers are spending more of their income on food than at any time in the last three decades. Even though food is relatively expensive, many economists agree that price gouging can be difficult to define and price controls often produce mixed results. At the other end of the food spectrum, farmers are

joelcape August 26, 2024