Agriculture › Civil Procedure › Intellectual Property

If Patented Technology Can Copy Itself, When Do Patent Rights Cease?

Patent rights in a patented self-replicating technology, such as seeds, continue until the patent term is ended and not before. On May 13, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bowman v. Monsanto that the patent rights in seeds are...more

Patent Exhaustion Doctrine Does Not Protect Farmers Who Replant Patented Seeds

In a brief, unanimous opinion written by Justice Kagan, the Supreme Court yesterday agreed with Monsanto that the patent exhaustion doctrine does not enable farmers to replant and reproduce patented seeds without the...more

Patent Watch: Bowman v. Monsanto Co.

On May 13, 2013, in Bowman v. Monsanto Co., the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Circuit's affirmance of the district court's judgment that Bowman infringed U.S. Patents No. 5,352,605 and No. RE39,247, which related to...more

Bowman v. Monsanto

Supreme Court Ruling on Patent Rights of Self-Replicating Technology

Full text copy of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bowman v. Monsanto Co. et al that Monsanto’s patent rights extend to future generations of its patented seeds. From Joe Barnes at the Washington Post: “Farmers must pay...more

Bowman v. Monsanto: Oral Argument

The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in Bowman v. Monsanto Co., with Mark P. Walters representing Farmer Bowman, Seth Waxman representing Monsanto, and Melissa Arbus Sherry representing the Department of Justice. ...more

Parties Reiterate Arguments from Certiorari Petitions in Briefs to Supreme Court

On the brink of oral argument before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, it may be helpful to reiterate (as do the parties) the arguments from Petitioner Farmer Bowman and Respondent Monsanto, Inc. in Bowman v. Monsanto....more

WLF Files Amicus Brief in Support of Respondents in Bowman v. Monsanto

In an amicus brief filed in support of respondents Monsanto Co. et al. last month, the Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) asked the Supreme Court to affirm that petitioner Vernon Bowman infringed Monsanto's patents on...more

It Ain't Necessarily So Down on the Farm: Not All Farmers Agree with Farmer Bowman in Bowman v. Monsanto

The "conventional wisdom" surrounding the Bowman v. Monsanto case now before the Supreme Court on certiorari is that it is "David v. Goliath," the salt-of-the-earth farmer versus the corporate monolith, and an example of the...more

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Review Case That May Impact Patented Stem Cell Technologies

On October 5, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the issue of whether the Federal Circuit erred by (1) refusing to find patent exhaustion that eliminates the right to control or prohibit the use of an invention...more