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> Also, the Roundup Ready soybeans patent is due to expire in 2014, so in 2 years farmers all around the world get Roundup Ready soybeans for free, just as the patent system intended.

Unless Monsanto suddenly stops selling Roundup and instead sells a different, "new and improved" herbicide with a new set of recently-patented resistent seeds. And lobbies for governments to ban Roundup because of a recently study saying it's a threat to the environment after all.

At least that's how it tends to work in the pharmaceutics industry.



Glyphosate's ("Roundup") patent expired in 2000.

This isn't really like the software industry, where there's lock-in effects. Unless you screw up, glyphosate still kills plants.


Thus the "And lobbies for governments to ban Roundup because of a recently study saying it's a threat to the environment after all." part.




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