Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO, has won the key patent battle regarding biotech-gene technology for the transformation of dicot plants, such as cotton. The decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that Monsanto's scientists were the first to invent this important technology ends a 12-year patent interference dispute with the Max Planck Institute and other parties.

The decision recounts the basis for finding that Monsanto was the first company to invent agrobacterium transformation in dicot plants, which eventually gave farmers the choice to use biotech crops. The patent interference was originally declared in 1992.

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