Supreme Court Hears Arguments in the Monsanto vs. Bowman Patent Case

The Supreme Court heard arguments Feb. 19 in a case between Monsanto and farmer Vernon Bowman. Bowman, a 75-year-old from Indiana, bought soybeans from a local grain elevator and used them as seed, even though it appears he knew they carried a Roundup Ready trait licensed by Monsanto. Bowman’s attorney argued that he didn’t violate Monsanto’s patent when he bought the seeds with the expectation that they would carry the Roundup Ready trait, and Monsanto did not have the right to carry the patent two or three generations after the seed was originally planted.
   
Although Monsanto won the case in district court and on appeal, the Supreme Court decided to hear it because as a first case involving a self-replicating technology. In oral arguments, several justices seemed sympathetic towards Monsanto’s claims, with Chief Justice John Roberts asking, “Why in the world would you spend money to improve a seed [if anyone could then duplicate it freely]?,” and Justice Stephen Breyer pointing out that federal law prohibits “making a copy of a patented invention… [and] that’s the end of it.”