Describing its ruling as "narrow," the court also emphasized that DuPont's separate antitrust and patent fraud claims were not impacted by its ruling and would, therefore, proceed.

"This litigation is just beginning; we will now vigorously pursue our antitrust, license and patent fraud claims," said DuPont Senior Vice President and General Counsel Thomas L. Sager.

"By gathering further evidence through the discovery process and proceeding quickly to trial, we will demonstrate that DuPont has the legal right to provide farmers with the best-yielding, most innovative seeds. As the court clearly indicated, the ruling does not affect DuPont's antitrust and patent fraud claims filed against Monsanto in June 2009. Nor does it affect the related ongoing US Department of Justice formal antitrust investigation involving Monsanto."

"Monsanto's efforts in the litigation make its intent crystal-clear: to deny independent seed companies and America's farmers the ability to create and plant the seeds that work best for them," Sager said.

"The combination of Optimum GAT traits with Roundup Ready seeds, which Monsanto is intent on blocking, provides 6 per cent better yield than the same seeds containing Roundup Ready alone. That is why DuPont will continue to partner with farmers and independent seed companies in order to demonstrate the anti-competitive impact of Monsanto's efforts to block better products from reaching the market."

On January 8, DuPont filed comments with the US Departments of Agriculture and Justice on the state of competition, choice and innovation in the agricultural marketplace.

These comments are in response to a joint USDA and DOJ request to better understand this critical industry.

In those comments DuPont stated the "ag biotech trait market is firmly in the grip of a single supplier, acting as a bottleneck to competition and choice."

In its comments to DOJ, DuPont noted the position that Monsanto takes on its RR technology not being stacked with DuPont's subsidiary Pioneer's Optimum GAT trait.

"The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recognised the adverse competitive impact of Monsanto’s stacking restrictions when, in 2007, it required Monsanto to eliminate them in its cotton trait licenses as a condition of its approval of Monsanto’s acquisition of Delta and Pine Land Company."