>
> >On the other side of the issue we have the organic seed savor grower
>> which is getting his seed contaminated with GMO.
>
>
I find this issue very interesting.  I read the Percy Schmeizer decision,
and must agree that he appeared to have purposefully used the RR seed
without permission.

But then I get a bit uneasy about the decision.  When someone else's seed
rolls onto my property without my collaboration, it seems to me that I
would then have right of ownership whether it is patented or not.  It seems
that it is the responsibility of the GM crop grower to "fence his stock in"
rather than for me to fence it out.

In Percy's case, which was a poor test case, he willingly selected for the
GM seed by applying Roundup to the field, so that only the GM plants
produced seed, which he then harvested.  So clearly guilty.

But what if he had been an "innocent" farmer who had not noticed that such
plants had invaded his field?  And what if his normal practice was to
replant each year from his own seed?

If I were in such a farmer's shoes, I would take up Monsanto on its offer
to remove its patented varieties from your property.  I would send a
certified letter to Monsanto each season stating that I was a seed saver,
and that I had no means of determining whether the patented variety was
growing on my land, since the variety could only be identified by either
seeing whether it was killed by Roundup (which I choose not to use upon my
property) or by laboratory testing.

 I'm curious as to whether sending such notice to Monsanto each season,
with the offer for them to remove any of their patented crop (with
reimbursement to me) to their satisfaction would be enough action to
prevent my from later being sued for patent infringement?

Let me see if I can get an answer from a Monsanto representative...
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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