Court Sides Against Deere Again in AGCO High-Speed Planting Case

On Jan. 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a verdict that AGCO did not infringe on John Deere U.S. patents 8,813,663 and 9,699,955, both for high-speed planting systems. 

Deere alleged that Precision Planting’s SpeedTube and vSet2 products were similar to their ExactEmerge technology and therefore in violation of patent infringement. Precision Planting is a subsidiary of AGCO and part of PTx, AGCO’s precision technology company. However, the district court jury upheld an earlier ruling stating that no infringement was present. 

“This means farmers will have an option when it comes to high speed planters,” said John Schwarz, an agricultural law attorney in Indiana. 

The technology in question involves seed meters and delivery systems for use in high-speed planting situations. AGCO’s SpeedTube and vSet2 systems project and accelerate seeds from the planter into the ground, while Deere’s system captures seeds and delivers them to a discharge position. This distinction led the jury to its verdict and the court’s rulings. 

The January verdict follows an appeal by John Deere after the case went to trial in 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. That jury also decided in AGCO’s favor. 

AGCO released a statement following the verdict, “We are pleased with the court decision in favor of AGCO and Precision Planting. This ruling validates our commitment to innovation and the integrity of our products. We remain dedicated to delivering high-quality solutions to our customers and will continue to focus on advancing our technology.”

Deere declined a request for comment. 

Other High-Speed Planting Patent Cases

In 2023, an Iowa jury awarded John Deere a total of $16.3 million in damages and royalties from Kinze Manufacturing and Ag Leader Technology, stating the two companies infringed on patents for seeding methods owned by Deere and Co. The lawsuit claimed Kinze’s True Speed and Ag Leader’s SureSpeed high-speed planting systems infringed on U.S. patents 9,861,031; 10,729, 063; and 8,813,663. The jury determined that Kinze and Ag Leader directly and indirectly infringed on the first two, but not the third, and that the infringements were not willful.

In the spring of 2024, the three companies came to an agreement to resolve the outstanding litigation through an arrangement where John Deere will license planting technology to Kinze and Ag Leader, ensuring their customers continue to have access to the True Speed and SureSpeed technologies. Farmers operating Kinze and Ag Leader planting and display products also have the option to integrate their agronomic data in the John Deere Operations Center.