Corteva settles Inari seed-IP case, with licensing talks still pending

Corteva ($CTVA) and Inari have reached a confidential settlement of Corteva’s seed-related intellectual-property lawsuit in Delaware. Inari agreed to destroy Corteva material accessed through seed depositories, together with material developed from those deposits. It also agreed to transfer intellectual property associated with its edited versions of Corteva’s proprietary genetic events to Corteva.

The settlement resolves litigation over control of biological material and related innovations, an important issue for the protection and commercialization of seed technology. It does not establish a disclosed cash recovery: the companies kept the other terms confidential. They also agreed to negotiate certain licensing arrangements, but those discussions should not be described as a completed commercial license. Neither anticipated royalty income nor a quantified financial benefit was announced.

Sources:

• Corteva company release — PR Newswire
• Timestamped distribution