Today, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed claims of infringement
asserted under three patents by DeKalb Genetics Corporation against commercial Bt hybrids of Novartis Seeds, Inc.- Field Crops.

The lawsuit, originally filed by DeKalb in June 1996, alleged that Novartis Seeds NK® Brand YieldGard® hybrids infringed five of DeKalb's U.S. patents.

Now after almost three years of litigation, DeKalb has asked that infringement claims under three of the five patents be dismissed. The court agreed to the dismissal, but required that DeKalb either reimburse Novartis Seeds for attorney's fees expended defending those claims or dismiss with prejudice * meaning DeKalb cannot reassert those claims in the future. DeKalb chose the latter option.

"This court order confirms that these DeKalb claims were without merit," said Ed Resler, general counsel for Novartis Seeds. "But it's unfortunate it took more than two years and substantial legal expense to reach this obvious conclusion."

Early on, the court ordered that claims under one patent could not be pursued pending further proceedings by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Despite DeKalb's dismissal of the majority of its claims, it continues to pursue action against Novartis Seeds, alleging that NK Brand YieldGard hybrids infringe the company's 5,484,956 patent.

Resler remains confident that Novartis Seeds will prevail should DeKalb continue to pursue its case.

"We will vigorously defend our products and are confident of the ultimate outcome of this trial," Resler continued. "However, it means that we are forced to expend resources litigating cases like this instead of investing them in research."

Today's action marks the second time in just six months that DeKalb has been forced to drop portions of its litigation against other agribusiness companies. On Nov. 10, 1998, the court dismissed similar lawsuits pending against Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.

Novartis Seeds, Inc. is a leading agriculture and biotechnology research organization which develops genetics and value-added products, and produces and sells corn, soybean, alfalfa, sunflower, sorghum, wheat, sugarbeet, vegetable and flower seeds.

Novartis is a world leader in Life Sciences with core businesses in Healthcare, Agribusiness and Consumer Health (Nutrition and Self-Medication). In 1998, Novartis Group sales were $21.8 billion, of which $12 billion were in Healthcare, $5.8 billion in Agribusiness, and $4 billion in Consumer Health. The group annually invests more than $2.6 billion in research and development. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis employs about 82,000 people and operates in over
140 countries around the world. The company's U.S. headquarters are located in Summit N.J.

®YieldGard is a registered trademark of Monsanto Company.

Company news release
N1786