Justices lean toward Monsanto, not farmer

WASHINGTON -- 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 weedkiller.

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 Monsanto patents, even though most of them also were genetically modified to resist the company's Roundup herbicide.

Chief Justice John Roberts wondered "why in the world would anybody" invest time and money on seeds if it was so easy to evade patent protection. To protect its investment in their development, Monsanto has a policy that prohibits farmers from saving or reusing the seeds once the crop is grown. Farmers must buy new seeds every year.

The case is being watched by businesses holding patents on DNA molecules, nanotechnologies and other self-replicating technologies.

The issue is how far the patents held by the world's largest seed company extend. More than 90 percent of American soybean farms use Monsanto's Roundup Ready seeds, which came on the market in 1996.

The 75-year-old Bowman bought the expensive seeds for his main crop of soybeans but decided to look for something cheaper for a risky, late-season planting. He went to a grain elevator and bought soybeans typically sold for feed, milling and other uses. Bowman reasoned that most of those soybeans would be resistant to weed killers, and he was right. In 2007, Monsanto sued and won an $84,456 judgment against him.

Across the court's conservative-liberal divide, justices expressed little sympathy for Bowman's actions.

Justice Stephen Breyer said Bowman could make many uses of the soybeans he bought at the grain elevator -- but not plant them. "Feed it to the animals. Feed it to your family or make tofu turkey," Breyer said.

Bowman's lawyer, Mark Walters, tried to focus the court on the claim that Monsanto has used patent law to bully farmers. Monsanto lawyer Seth Waxman countered that the company put 13 years and hundreds of millions of dollars into developing herbicide-resistant seeds.