SCOTUS › Infringement

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

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

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: Crisis Averted on IP Protection for Self-Replicating Technologies

Life science companies in general (and seed companies in particular) are breathing a sigh of relief following the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in Bowman v. Monsanto. As Bowman wended its way through district...more

Bowman v. Monsanto Co. (2013)

Today, in Bowman v. Monsanto Co., the Supreme Court determined that the doctrine of patent exhaustion did not permit a farmer who buys patented seeds to repro­duce them through planting and harvesting without the patent...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

Supreme Court Decides Bowman v. Monsanto

The Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision today in Bowman v. Monsanto, holding the doctrine of patent exhaustion does not permit a farmer to reproduce patented seeds by replanting seeds after growing a first crop....more

Cars Lawsuit Runs Out of Gas

The United States Supreme Court recently brought final resolution to Mandeville-Anthony v. Walt Disney Co., a dispute over the ownership of Disney and Pixar’s animated movies “Cars” and “Cars 2,” and the spin-off television...more

Do Patents Control Self-Replicating Technologies? Supreme Court Hears Argument that Sale of Patented Seed Exhausts Future Patent

Patent infringement arises when one “makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells” a patented invention without authority from the patent holder. However, once the first authorized sale of the patented product has occurred, the...more

Intellectual Property Newsletter - March 2013

*News from the Bench: - First Sale Doctrine Applies To Copyrighted Works Lawfully Made Abroad. - Dissenting Federal Circuit Judges Abide By The Akamai Standard. - More On Joint Infringement and The Akamai...more

Intellectual Property Bulletin Winter 2013: Murky Waters: Post-Approval Regulatory Activities and the § 271(e)(1) Safe Harbor

On January 14, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's exclusion in Classen Immunotherapies, Inc. v. Biogen IDEC, 659 F.3d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 2011), of post-approval...more

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in "Pay-for-Delay" Patent Settlement Antitrust Case

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, Inc., will almost certainly have major implications for the viability of Federal Trade Commission and private suits alleging that pay-for-delay settlements...more

Copyright Owners Left Legally Jet Lagged? – The Supreme Court Embraces the International Exhaustion Doctrine

A multi-year legal drama over the proper scope of certain sections of the U.S. Copyright Act, as applied to goods made and first sold outside the United States, has finally come to an end. In a 6-3 decision issued yesterday,...more

Supreme Court Strengthens Copyright First Sale Doctrine

The U.S. Supreme Court today issued its decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the first sale doctrine, which protects the owner of a lawful copy of a copyrighted work,...more

IP Update, Vol. 16, No. 2, -- February 2013

In This Issue: Patents - Supreme Court: State Court Has Jurisdiction over a Legal Malpractice Claim; Nothing Non-Obvious About Applying Pre-Existing Technology to the Internet; The Federal Circuit Is Not the Place...more

Supreme Court Holds a Gunn to Exclusive Federal Court Jurisdiction Over Patent Malpractice Claims

In Gunn v. Minton, the Supreme Court held that federal courts do not have exclusive jurisdiction over patent malpractice claims. Under 28 USC § 1338(a), federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over cases “arising under any...more

In Oral Arguments during Bowman v. Monsanto the Supreme Court Struggles with Exhaustion Doctrine for Patented Seeds

On February 19, 2013, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Vernon Hugh Bowman v. Monsanto Company. This case has far-reaching implications for the patent exhaustion or first sale doctrine in...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

Pending Bill Would Expand FTC Powers Over Drug Patent Settlements and Alter the Legal Test

Key Points: - This month several U.S. Senators introduced the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act. There is no similar bill pending in the U.S. House. - The Act revives legislative efforts to wipe out the...more