U.S. Supreme Court Seeks Input From Solicitor General In Monsanto Patent Exhaustion Case

On April 2, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the government's views in a case involving patent exhaustion, Bowman v. Monsanto Co., No. 11-796 (April 2, 2012). The Supreme Court's decision on certiorari will come after hearing from the Solicitor General, but the invitation increases the chance that the Court will grant review. The case involves the use of soybean seeds including Monsanto's patented Roundup Ready" herbicide-resistance trait. Over the course of several growing seasons, Vernon Bowman, a farmer in Indiana, purchased soybean seeds from a local grain elevator. Monsanto Co. v. Bowman, 657 F.3d 1341, 1345-46 (2011). The seeds sold by grain elevators are harvested from local fields in previous seasons, and because Roundup Ready" soybeans are widely planted, a large number of the seeds Bowman purchased included the Monsanto's Roundup...