The Bt cry1Ac gene technology was sublicensed to these universities and other public institutions in Bangladesh and the Philippines among others on a pro bono basis, but several concerns remain to be addressed. Who really owns the nearly dozen OPVs that the two agriculture universities have used in the Bt experiments? What would be the nature of intellectual property rights (IPRs) that the developers would enjoy given that the technology is owned by Mahyco — a company in which Monsanto has a 26 per cent stake — and how soon would the universities be allowed to release their seeds?