Monsanto copyediting. Monsanto regularly lobbies the US government with expenses reaching $8.8 million in 2008 and $6.3 million in 2011. In comparison, the 20th highest spender, Pfizer, spent $12.9 million. $2 million was spent on matters concerning "Foreign Agriculture Biotechnology Laws, Regulations, and Trade". Some US diplomats in Europe at other times worked directly for Monsanto. Monsanto made political contributions of $186,250 to federal candidates in the 2008 election cycle through its political action committee (PAC) (42% to Democrats, 58% to Republicans) and $305,749 in the 2010 election cycle (48% Democrat, 52% Republicans). California's 2012 Proposition 37 would have mandated the
Monsanto legal cases this business model, companies invest heavily in research and development, and recoup the expenses through the use and enforcement of biological patents. In 1969, Monsanto sued Rohm and Haas for infringement of Monsanto's patent for the herbicide propanil. In Monsanto Co. v. Rohm and Haas Co., the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Monsanto on the basis that the company had fraudulently procured the patent it sought to enforce. Since the mid‑1990s, Monsanto indicates that it has filed suit against 145 individual U.S. farmers for patent infringement and/or breach of contract in connection with its genetically engineered seed but