Patent fights have turned into legal brawls in recent years, and the
Supreme Court has sometimes provided a note of sanity, as it did again
in Monday's important ruling in Bowman v. Monsanto
The High Court ruled unanimously in favor of Monsanto's patent
rights over its Roundup Ready soybean seeds, which make plants resistant
to a common weed killer. Indiana farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman violated a
Monsanto licensing agreement that said he could plant these seeds in
one—and only one—season. When Monsanto discovered Mr. Bowman was
replanting Roundup Ready seeds to produce more, it argued he was
infringing on, and diminishing the value of, its patent.
The Justices agreed, providing
valuable guidance on the "doctrine of patent exhaustion"—which Mr.
Bowman invoked, and which holds that once a patented product is sold,
the patent no longer protects the product. The Court said this doctrine
does not allow the purchaser to make copies of the patented invention,
since the "patent would plummet in value after the first sale of the
first item," providing the inventor "scant benefit."
The Justices also didn't buy Mr. Bowman's argument that because
soybeans are "self-replicating" the plants themselves did the
copying—not him. "This blame-the-bean defense" is "tough to credit,"
wrote Justice Elena Kagan for the Court, since Mr. Bowman was actively
planting, tending and harvesting his crops.
The Court stressed that its holding was not meant to address every
patent case involving a self-replicating product, though its ruling
provides some assurance that companies pouring money into 21st-century
technologies can expect to have their patents honored. That's the way to
grow innovation.
WSJ
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