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75-Year-Old
Soybean Planter Loses Against Monsanto In Supreme Court - (www.businessinsider.com) The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Monsanto
Monday over an Indiana farmer accused of having pirated the
genetically-modified crops developed by the agribusiness giant. The high court
was unanimous in its decision, ruling that laws limiting patents do "not
permit a farmer to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting
without the patent holder's permission." The crux of the argument was over
"patent exhaustion" which states that, after a patented item has been
sold, the purchaser has "'the right to use (or) sell' the thing as he sees
fit." But the court's 10-page opinion says patent exhaustion only applies
to the actual item sold -- in this case the seed itself -- and still prevents
anyone from making, using and selling copies of the item. The ruling gave
Monsanto shares a bounce after falling more than one percent in opening trade
Monday. At 10:20 (1420 GMT) they were at $107.59, down 0.5 percent.
ECB's
Visco: Deposit Rates Could Go Below Zero - (www.cnbc.com)
European Central Bank
governing council member Ignazio Visco told CNBC that the central bank is
"technically prepared" to introduce negative deposit rates which
would see banks effectively having to pay the ECB to hold deposits, but was
aware of the potential "unintended
consequences" of such a move. Visco, an Italian economist
and the current governor of the Bank of Italy, said that the bank was
"technically prepared to go in that direction" but the decision
depended on whether the economy needed further help. "We all agreed in the
council that we have to look with care and in that case we may reduce the
[deposit] rate. We think that - and I personally think that, this is effective
– the economy now is capable of taking it on board. Technically, we are
equipped and ready to intervene. There may be unintended consequences - we know
we may have to work on that - and we know how to work on that," Visco told
CNBC on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in
London this weekend.
Schäuble
warns EU bank rescue agency needs treaty changes - (www.ft.com) Germany’s finance minister has warned that a single EU bailout agency and rescue fund for
ailing banks is legally untenable until the bloc’s treaties have been
overhauled. In today’s Financial Times, Wolfgang
Schäuble calls for a “two-step approach” that would leave bank rescues in the
hands of “a network of” national authorities until treaty changes can take
place. Mr Schäuble’s declaration comes just weeks before the European
Commission is due to present its plan for a single bank resolution agency and
rescue fund – widely touted as the second pillar in the eurozone’s much-vaunted
“banking
union” – throwing the proposal into doubt even before it is
unveiled.
Another Automaker With A Federal Loan Blames Its Failure On The Fisker Fiasco - (www.businessinsider.com) The ex-CEO of a now-defunct automaker that received a federal loan said his company would still be in business if the government were not afraid of backlash like that following the failure of electric automaker Fisker. The automaker, Vehicle Production Group (aka VPG Autos), produced the MV-1, a six-passenger, wheelchair-accessible van than can run on gasoline or environmentally-friendly compressed natural gas. It raised $400 million in private equity, and received $50 million under the Department of Energy's Advanced Technologies Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM) — the same program that gave loans to Fisker, Tesla, Ford, and Nissan. Under the terms of its loan, VPG was required to keep a certain amount of cash on hand. When it fell below that level, the DOE froze its assets on February 29. VPG was forced to cease operations, and laid off all but three of its 100 employees, including former CEO John Walsh.
Spain
Home Expropriation Plans Seen Violating EU Bailout - (www.bloomberg.com) Spanish politicians trying to
cushion the blows of austerity plan to seize foreclosed homes to house the
needy, discouraging foreign investment and threatening to violate terms of the
European bailout of the country’s banks. The regional governments of Andalusia,
with the most vacant properties in the country, and the tourist destination of
the Canary Islands, are planning to expropriate
foreclosed properties for as long as three years to house displaced families.
The European Commission has asked Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy’s government for details on the regions’ actions, to ensure
they don’t clash with the country’s commitments. “It’s third world, populist
and akin to policies more commonly seen in Bolivia and North
Korea,” said Mikel Echavarren, chief executive officer of Irea, a
Madrid-based restructuring firm that has advised on 22 billion euros ($28.6
billion) of refinancing. “Investors fear it will set a precedent and other
regions will follow suit, making Spanish real estate investment an extremely
high-risk activity.”
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