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BOISE — Three Pacific Northwest universities face a federal lawsuit that accuses them of using, without permission, a Canadian inventor's patented process to build a better yellow mustard seed.
Soheil Sharafabadi, who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle, says the University of Idaho used his patent to produce new varieties of mustard seed with higher yields.
Washington State University and Oregon State University collaborated with the Idaho university, providing research stations and scientists, according to court documents.
The lawsuit, filed July 23, names all three schools and agricultural suppliers in Idaho, Washington, Montana and California that sell and distribute the mustard seeds Sharafabadi says were developed with his 1990 "Pseudoplastic Yellow Mustard Gum" patent.
"They're cheating," he told The Associated Press this week a telephone interview from British Columbia. "I want their recognition that they have used my patent. They are trying to hide it."
Sharafabadi says his patent helped researchers produce seeds with higher-than-normal levels of mucilage, a sticky, gum-like substance produced naturally by some living organisms. In plants, mucilage promotes water storage and seed germination.
In the late 1990s, the University of Idaho used the process to create a popular variety of mustard seed called "Idagold," Sharafabadi said. Idagold consistently yielded about 12 percent more than other yellow mustard varieties commonly grown in North America during field trials in the Pacific Northwest, according to a university Web site.
The IdaGold seeds were licensed to Montana Specialty Mills, LLC, in Great Falls, Mont., and the Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative with offices in Idaho and Washington, according to court documents.
"While the University of Idaho doesn't comment on the specifics of current litigation, we do plan to vigorously defend our research and we expect to prevail," university spokeswoman Tania Thompson said.
The L.A. Hearne Company in California and the McKay Seeds Company in Moses Lake, Wash., also are named.
In his lawsuit, Sharafabadi claims sole proprietary rights to Idagold and more than two dozen other mustard seed varieties he says were developed through his patent.
Sharafabadi, who is originally from Iran, says he has never been employed by any of the three schools.
The patented process begins with boiling dried yellow mustard seeds in 100 Celsius water for about five minutes to produce "Pseudoplastic Yellow Mustard Gum," substantial amounts of mucilage not available any other way, Sharafabadi says.
Previous methods of extracting the mucilage required boiling the seeds for up to 24 hours and the university adopted his method because it was fast, accurate, reliable and efficient, he claims.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri auditor's office will examine state rules governing grain deals after two alleged grain fraud schemes cost farmers tens of millions of dollars this year.
State Auditor Susan Montee, a Democrat, said Wednesday the audit will focus on the Missouri Department of Agriculture's Grain Regulatory Services program and will include recommendations about how state officials could spot fraud sooner and help farmers recover more of their financial losses.
Agriculture Department officials requested the review after two high-profile grain fraud schemes on opposite sides of the state.
In Gallatin in the northwest part of the state, the owner of a Daviess County grain elevator is facing 22 count counts of grain theft. More than 100 farmers who lost $3.5 million are expected to get about 12 cents on the dollar.
In Martinsburg in northeast Missouri, the owner of a trucking company and grain elevator was charged in July with 15 state and federal felonies and accused of operating a grain fraud scheme that prosecutors say could cost farmers up to $50 million. Agriculture officials say farmers can expect to receive about 2 percent of their claims.
"It was a huge impact, and if there is a way to prevent some of this from happening in the future, we should fix it now," Montee said.
Montee said auditors already have determined that the Agriculture Department has followed its procedures and complied with state laws. She said the review will examine what other states have done. One possibility is to allow the department to hire more grain inspectors, but state budget constraints make that difficult.
