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17 May 2018Americas

Bayer CropScience and Calyxt settle licensing dispute

US agriculture company Calyxt has announced it has resolved a licensing dispute over DNA-editing technology with Bayer CropScience.

In a release issued on Tuesday, May 17, the company said that Bayer and its subsidiaries no longer have access to Calyxt’s technology or IP.

The companies signed a research and commercial licence agreement in December 2013 under which Calyxt granted Bayer a licence to certain patents for the research and commercialisation of products developed using transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN) technology.

These nucleases are restriction enzymes that can be engineered to cut specific sequences of DNA.

However, in March 2018, Calyxt filed a complaint in the Delaware Chancery Court because it believed Bayer had breached the agreement. The company asked for a declaration that the agreement be terminated for material breach and an order of “specific performance requiring Bayer to comply with its post-termination obligations”, according to the release.

The settlement has now been filed in the Delaware Chancery Court, with Calyxt saying the parties have agreed that the 2013 licence deal has been terminated.

It added that Bayer will “destroy any technology, related product and confidential information covered by the licence agreement, and that Bayer will permanently abandon patent applications that are based on or include data related to the covered technology”.


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8 May 2019   A former scientist at Bayer CropScience shared confidential information with his new employer, which was used to develop commercial biopesticide products, according to a claim filed by the agricultural company.