Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Files Statement of Interest Highlighting Importance of Enabling Competition and Innovation in the Seeds Industry

Today, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in Corteva Agriscience LLC, et al. v. Inari Agriculture Inc. et al. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The statement of interest reaffirms the importance of the public’s ability to access and read patented biological material, which promotes follow-on innovation and competition in the seeds industry.

“The need for an affordable and secure food supply chain is vital for every American, and that begins with the seeds on which American farmers rely,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Dina Kallay of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Ensuring that the path to innovation is accessible for businesses, both big and small, is essential for enabling robust competition in the seeds industry and benefits consumers.”

Intellectual property and antitrust laws are aligned in their goal of promoting dynamic competition through innovation. While taking no position on the ultimate disposition of the case, the statement of interest explains that the Patent Act represents a balance of incentives: inventors gain the benefit of exclusivity over the life of the patent but, in exchange, they must publicly disclose their invention to promote the state of the art and enable follow-on innovation. The public’s ability to understand a claimed invention is thus critical.

The U.S. seed industry is highly concentrated and characterized by high barriers to entry. The statement of interest explains that, for entry by new competitors to be possible, it is especially important that intellectual property protections are interpreted in a way that strikes the right balance between rewarding innovators and allowing follow-on innovation. In the seeds industry, reasonable access to patented seeds is crucial to enabling follow-on innovation which, in turn, paves the way for small businesses and new entrants to enter and compete in the market.

The Antitrust Division has established a Food Supply Chain Security Task Force to investigate anticompetitive behavior in food-related industries pursuant to the Executive Order on “Addressing Security Risks From Price Fixing and Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Food Supply Chain.”^[1] The Antitrust Division routinely files statements of interest and amicus briefs in federal court.