Patent Baristas

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court laid out that patent exhaustion does not permit a farmer to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission. And….Boom Goes the Dynamite! (Bowman v. Monsanto Co. et al., (Bowman v Monsanto 11-796) The decision will have an impact on a plethora of businesses […]

For centuries now, farmers have been practicing agriculture by saving seeds from the harvest and using it for next year’s crop. Call it a form of insurance. Call it security. They may even exchange seeds with neighboring farms. This is their security blanket to keep poverty at bay as well as ensure crop genetic diversity. […]

Arguing that there are too many restrictions being placed on biotech crops, 26 leading corn insect scientists working at public research institutions located in 16 corn producing states submitted a statement to the EPA. All of the scientists have been active participants of the Regional Research Projects NCCC-46 “Development, Optimization, and Delivery of Management Strategies […]

While it seems that just about everyone is jumping on the green bandwagon, there is money to be had in global disaster, too. Climate change can be profitable. Human-induced climate change could trigger climate shocks in all ecosystems that will profoundly affect crops, livestock, fisheries and forests and the billions of people whose livelihoods depend […]

Drug developers often search for new leads in the biodiversity often found in developing countries. Often, a new theraputic or genetically engineered product is developed and patented. Depending upon your view, this is either the free market at play in creating new and better products (so-called bioprospecting) or exploitation of developing nations (so-called biopiracy). However, […]

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, “Well, There You Go Again!” The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit again affirmed that, while the practice of savings seeds after a harvest to plant the next season is as old as farming itself, you can’t save patented seeds. After the district court held that Loren David knowingly infringed […]

Monsanto sued Bayer Bioscience claiming that four Bayer patents relating to chimeric genes, including U.S. Patent Nos. 5,545,565, are invalid and not enforceable. After the district court declared the four patents unenforceable for inequitable conduct Bayer appealed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed after finding their researcher was less than forthcoming […]

In another challenge to patents it just doesn’t like, the nonprofit organization Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) got the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to grant a request for reexamination of four crop science-related patents held by Monsanto. PUBPAT seems to be on a roll after successfully getting reexams of patents on Pfizer’s Lipitor, WARF’s […]