U.S. farm equipment maker Deere & Co sues Precision Planting LLC and AGCO Corp, accusing them of infringing on 12 of its patents. Deere claims Precision Planting products tread on a dozen of its patents relating to its planters.
Deere & Company took legal action against Precision Planting LLC and AGCO Corporation, claiming that the companies have infringed on 12 John Deere patents. The legal action Deere and Company filed against the two companies boils down to seed placement and planting speed technologies.In filings to the U.S. district court in Delaware, Deere alleged that products made or sold by Precision Planting, including vSet seed meters along with SpeedTube products, infringed on its patents.
The company said the patents protected its inventions that facilitate accurate seed placement, uniform seed spacing and even crop emergence. “Deere has suffered damages as a result of the direct and indirect infringing activities of Defendant and will continue to suffer such damages as long as those infringing activities continue,” the company said in the lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, the company is seeking unspecified damages. AGCO acquired Precision Planting in September 2017.
AGCO bought Precision Planting from Monsanto Co after the world’s largest seed company terminated its agreement to sell the unit to Deere.