Such a sale, however, does not allow the purchaser to make new copies of the patented invention. Associate Justice Elena Kagan, author of the court's opinion, wrote the following: Under the doctrine of patent exhaustion, the authorized sale of a patented article gives the purchaser, or any subsequent owner, a right to use or resell that article. The Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts. On Bowman's appeal, a court affirmed the original judgment. This is similar to copyright law under which a consumer can buy a paper book, read it and then sell the used volume without owing anything to the publisher.Ī federal district court rejected the argument and awarded damages of $84,456 to Monsanto. patent law, once someone buys a patented product, they can do with it as they want without paying the patent holder again. Bowman's lawyers tried a defense called patent exhaustion. Bowman then saved seed and replanted it for the second crop the next year.Īfter harvesting eight crops this way, Monsanto found out and sued Bowman. Because most of them came from farms that also grew Monsanto varieties, Bowman knew he would effectively have Roundup Ready seed without paying Monsanto's price. However, he then planted that seed for his second crop. For the second crop, he went to a grain elevator - an agricultural middleman that the local farmers sold to - and purchased "commodity soybeans" intended for animal or human food use. For the first crop, he would purchase Roundup Ready seeds from an authorized reseller. Indiana farmer Vernon Bowman, as other farmers did, planted two soybean crops a year. Otherwise, farmers could follow the practice of keeping out seeds for subsequent planting, limiting the amount of money Monsanto could make.
To protect their intellectual property, Monsanto make farmers license the seed use to one growing season and promise not to save seeds for later use.
By planting the so-called Roundup Ready varieties, farmers can spray to kill weeds and other invasive plants, reducing the amount of labor necessary to keep the unwanted species from harming the money crops.
Monsanto, the largest producer of genetically modified crops, created a series of plants, including soybeans, that can withstand the active ingredient glyphosate found in many weed killers, including the company's own Roundup. Study says genetically modified corn causes tumors, but other scientists skeptical about research.Companies attack proposal to label modified foods.
Critics slam Obama for "protecting" Monsanto.To farmers the ruling is a blow because it means that an old money-saving practice of keeping seeds from one of these GM crops and planting them the next season is not possible. Companies faced the prospect of developing new species of plants and animals and then effectively going into competition with the customers that used them. The decision was critical to the agricultural biotechnology industry.