Reuters — U.S. farm equipment maker Deere and Co. on Friday sued Precision Planting and Agco Corp., accusing them of infringing on 12 of its patents.
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.
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According to the lawsuit, the company is seeking unspecified damages.
Kelli Cook, a spokeswoman for both Agco and Precision Planting, declined to comment on the litigation.
Agco bought Precision Planting from Monsanto arm The Climate Corp. last September, after the world’s largest seed company terminated its 2015 agreement to sell the unit to Deere.
–– Reporting for Reuters by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago and Ankit Ajmera in Bangalore.
