Shortly before the end of 2014, DuPont and rival US life science group Monsanto agreed to resolve some patent infringement suits against other pending in a St. Louis, Missouri, court.

The settlement follows several years of litigation between the two companies.

Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont had claimed that Monsanto, based at St. Louis, infringed its patented seed processing technology, and Monsanto claimed DuPont was illegally using its seed chipping patents.

The two companies said they believed that burying the patent hatchet would help them to better focus on developing new solutions for the agriculture sector.