Commercial Law & Contracts › Agriculture

McAfee & Taft AgLINC Ag & Equine Industry Newsletter - May 2013: What does your deed say?

McAfee & Taft regularly represents clients in connection with the purchase, sale and financing of agricultural real estate. Issues that arise in these transactions include all the issues that are routinely attendant to real...more

Patent Exhaustion Rejected: Patented Seed Purchaser Has No Right to Make Copies

The Supreme Court in Bowman v. Monsanto Co. ruled unanimously that a farmer’s replanting of harvested seeds constituted making new infringing articles. While the case is important for agricultural industries, the Supreme...more

U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Monsanto in Seed Patent Case

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday in favor of Monsanto in Bowman v. Monsanto, a case involving Monsanto’s recombinant, Roundup Ready® seeds. The opinion rejected the arguments from petitioner, Indiana farmer...more

Supreme Court Rules in Patent Exhaustion Case: Farmer’s Use of Second Generation Seed Constitutes Infringement

On May 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that patent exhaustion does not bar an infringement claim in a case involving a farmer who reproduced patented seeds by planting and harvesting second generation seeds...more

Supreme Court Finds for Monsanto in Seed Harvesting Case

In Bowman v. Monsanto Co., the Supreme Court held that the doctrine of patent exhaustion does not give a farmer who has bought patented seeds the right to “reproduce” them through planting and harvesting without the patent...more

Don’t Blame the Bean: The Monsanto Patent Decision

In the case of Bowman v. Monsanto Company (May 13, 2013), the US Supreme Court has weighed into this thorny field, and on Monday it delivered a unanimous judgment upholding the rights in Monsanto’s patented soybeans. (See our...more

U.S. Supreme Court Qualifies Patent Exhaustion

On May 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Bowman v. Monsanto, decided whether a soybean farmer infringed Monsanto’s patent by replanting patented soybeans harvested from previous crops. The Court unanimously...more

United States Supreme Court Victory for St. Louis-Based Monsanto

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, has held in favor of Monsanto on a patent infringement suit arising from the St. Louis-based company's Roundup Ready soybean seeds. Monsanto invented and patented a genetic...more

Publications Patent Exhaustion Does Not Apply to the Reproduction of Patented Seeds

On May 13, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Bowman v. Monsanto Co., 569 U.S. ___ (2013), which concerned whether and how patent exhaustion applies to self-replicating patented articles. Monsanto...more

Bowman v. Monsanto: Self-Replicating Biotech and Software Left at the Alter?

Today, in a case having the potential to upset the agricultural biotech industry, Justice Elena Kagan delivered the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision rejecting farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman’s patent exhaustion defense....more

Legal Alert: Monsanto Ruling Protects Innovators of Self-Replicating Biotechnology

On May 13, 2013, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court held in Monsan to v. Bowman that the doctrine of patent exhaustion does not permit a farmer to reproduce patented seeds for planting and harvesting without the patent holder's...more

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

North American Grain: key differences between standard forms (2)

This client alert is the second of a two-part series relating to the use of the standard form contract published by the North American Grain Export Association (NAEGA)....more

Comment Period Extended For Proposed FSMA Rules

Yesterday, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development hosted officials from the Food & Drug Administration at a "Listening Session" on the newly proposed rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA),...more

North American Grain: key differences between standard forms

The North American grain market has experienced considerable difficulties in recent years. Severe droughts caused by record heats in 2011-2012 resulted in low yields and a deterioration in the quality of key crops such as...more

Defining “Natural”: The National Organic Program Offers Guidance That May Impact Organic and Nonorganic Food Producers Alike

The USDA’s National Organic Program (“NOP”) recently issued draft guidance that organic and nonorganic food manufacturers alike should be aware of. In addressing what is required to certify a product as “organic,” the NOP has...more

Drafting Embryo Transfer Contracts for Cattle Producers

This outline was prepared for the Texas Bar Agriculture Law Conference to be held in Lubbock, Texas in May 2013. It gives an overview of the typical transaction between cattle producers concerning embryo transfer and gives...more

California Court of Appeal Recognizes That Wide Discretion Granted to a Board of Directors Under the Business Judgment Rule May Be...

In Scheenstra v. California Dairies, Inc., No. F062768, ___ Cal. Rptr. 3d ___, 2013 WL 363148 (Cal. App. 5th Dist. Jan. 30, 2013), the California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, affirmed the judgment of the California...more

CBP Inspects Almost a Billion Ways to Say “I Love You”

As the last of forgetful but doting husbands, boyfriends, and lovers runs out to buy their special someone flowers on this Valentine’s Day, the inspectors at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are breathing a sigh of...more

FDA Proposes New Rules Regarding Growing, Harvesting, Packing And Holding Domestic And Foreign Produce

On January 5, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as part of a continuing overhaul of the United States’ food safety laws under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), published proposed rules regarding the...more

Southeastern Milk Antitrust Litigation Concludes with $158,600,000 Settlement with Dairy Farmers of America and Related Entities

Settlement brings total award to more than $300 million; agreement includes substantial changes to business conduct in the Southeast dairy industry - CLEVELAND – January 22, 2013 – BakerHostetler is proud to announce...more

FDA Releases Two More Rules Implementing the Food Safety and Modernization Act

As we previously reported, President Obama signed the Food Safety and Modernization Act (“FSMA“) in January 2011 to help ensure the safety and security of foods in the United States. On January 7, 2013, the U.S. Food and...more