INDIANA Farmer VS Monsanto ~ case goes to Supreme Court

[Melensdad]

A farmer from Porter County, IN, (the country directly to the east of where I live, just south of Lake Michigan) is facing off against agri-giant Monsanto in a Supreme Court case. The company is suing the 75-year-old farmer for planting cheap-grade soybeans that are typically used for feeding livestock.

Monsanto asserts the power to copyright lifeforms and control what is done with them after they are sold. Patented seeds and animals are not permitted to reproduce, and Monsanto's aggressive legal team makes sure to punish farmers who violate their policy.

The case will have rippling effects across the farming industry and throughout patent law.


Indiana farmer's fight over soybean seeds hits Supreme Court

Like almost every other farmer in Indiana, Bowman used the patented seeds for his main crop. But for a risky, late-season crop on his 300 acres in Sandborn, Bowman said, "I wanted a cheap source of seed."

He couldn't reuse his own beans or buy seeds from other farmers who had similar agreements with Monsanto and other companies licensed to sell genetically engineered seeds. And dealers he used to buy cheap seed from no longer carry the unmodified seeds.

So Bowman found what looked like a loophole and went to a grain elevator that held soybeans it typically sells for feed, milling and other uses, but not as seed.

Bowman reasoned most of those soybeans also would be resistant to weed killers, as they initially came from herbicide-resistant seeds, too. He was right, and he repeated the practice over eight years.

He didn't try to keep it a secret from Monsanto and, in October 2007, the company sued him for violating its patent. Bowman's is one of 146 lawsuits Monsanto has filed since 1996 claiming unauthorized use of its Roundup Ready seeds, Snively said.

A federal court in Indiana sided with Monsanto and awarded the company $84,456 for Bowman's unlicensed use of Monsanto's technology. A federal appeals court in Washington upheld the award, saying farmers may never replant Roundup Ready seeds without running afoul of Monsanto's patents.

The Supreme Court will grapple with the limit of Monsanto's patent rights, whether they stop with the sale of the first crop of beans -- or extend to each new crop soybean farmers grow that has the gene modification that allows it to withstand the application of weed killer.

And then . . .
High court seems to favor Monsanto in patent case

The Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to side with Monsanto Co. in its claim that an Indiana farmer violated the company's patents on soybean seeds that are resistant to its weed-killer.

None of the justices in arguments at the high court seemed ready to endorse farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman's argument that cheap soybeans he bought from a grain elevator are not covered by the Monsanto patents, even though most of them also were genetically modified to resist the company's Roundup herbicide.

 

[muleman]

Ummmm.....
http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=62011

 

[300 H and H]

Well I don't think the court will side with the farmer. Frankly I see no reason for them to even hear this case, in witch the lower courts have already sided with Monsanto. The only reason for them to do so is to send yet another message to Ag country not to mess with the big M. This is clearly a warning to those who are or are considering violating these patents. The outcome will not be good.

Regards, Kirk