Indiana farmer taking Monsanto to Supreme Court
Vernon Hugh Bowman, a 74-year-old soybean farmer, will have his day in
court against Monsanto in the US Supreme Court next year. Bowman was
originally sued by Monsanto Co for alleged patent infringement for the
use of a genetically modified soybean crop.
Under
the company's licensing contract, farmers can only use the product to
harvest one round of crops. However, Monsanto sued Bowman because they
say he is at fault for planting a second harvest. However, this second
harvest came from commercially-purchased "commodity seeds" from a grain
elevator that contained, in part, the Roundup Ready GMO seeds.
Apparently
you can sell "second-generation" seeds to grain elevators for use as
"commodity seeds," and Monsanto doesn't require that there be any
restriction on the sale.
However, Monsanto claimed this was infringement, even though the seeds
were legally sold to the grain elevator and then from the elevator to
Bowman without restrictions.
While
Bowman had signed an agreement for his original seeds, he did not with
this batch. Even Monsanto admits he didn't break the user agreement -
just patent infringement for using the seeds.
The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an $84,456 damages ruling
awarded to Monsanto in September 2011.
However Bowman vowed to appeal
this ruling and has now got the attention of the highest court in the
US. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear his case and they expect it to happen in Washington, DC in January or February of 2013.
According to the Las Vegas Sun,
the Obama administration urged the court not to take the case and
warned that the outcome could affect patents involving DNA molecules,
nanotechnologies and other self-replicating technologies.
Bowman is arguing in his appeal that the Federal Circuit decision
favoring Monsanto was incorrect, as an earlier court had agreed that
Monsanto had no rights on how its product was used after it was sold to
consumers.
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