Biofuels Short Takes: Bowman v. Monsanto ruling from SCOTUS

May 13, 2013 |

Monsanto IP protection case. In Washington, in a unanimous ruling delivered today, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed its support for protecting U.S. innovations – in this case, ruling that an Indiana farmer had to pay a fee to Monsanto to use its genetically modified soybeans to make new seeds.

Writing the unanimous decision, Justice Elena Kagan wrote:

“Our holding today is limited — addressing the situation before us, rather than every one involving a self-replicating product. We recognize that such inventions are becoming ever more prevalent, complex, and diverse. In another case, the article’s self-replication might occur outside the purchaser’s control. Or it might be a necessary but incidental step in using the item for another purpose.”

According to Monsanto, “the Supreme Court’s decision affirms the basic purpose of the U.S. patent system – providing an incentive to innovate by providing inventors a meaningful opportunity to recover costs on their R&D investments. The decision also reflects the Court’s sensitivity to the importance of patent protection not only for agriculture companies such as Monsanto, but for the basic incentive structure the patent system provides for innovation.

More on the story.

Category: Fuels

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