Vernon Hugh Bowman, Petitioner, v. Monsanto Company, et al, Respondents (Supreme Court of the United States)

摘要

The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) is a public interest law and policy center with supporters in all 50 States. WLF devotes a substantial portion of its resources to defending free enterprise, individual rights, and a limited and accountable government.1...The nation's farmers have experienced tremendous advances in seed technology in recent years, thanks in large measure to major expenditures for research and development in this area by Respondent Monsanto Co. and others. WLF is concerned that the extremely broad interpretation of the patent exhaustion doctrine espoused by Petitioner would, if accepted by the Court, throw into question the nation's ability to sustain those advances. That doctrine has never previously been understood to permit purchasersof a patented product to '"use" the product to create an entirely new product on the template of the original.