David v. Monsanto is the latest of many lawsuits against farmers (in this case, Lauren David) by Monsanto. Monsanto is the owner of the patented herbicide Roundup and the also-patented Roundup Ready herbicide-resistant seed.
At issue in this case is David's right to plant Roundup Ready soybean seeds that he produced from plants grown from Roundup Ready David lost the case, both at trial and at the federal circuit, and was fined $786,989. Last week, David appealed to the Supreme Court.
Presently, farmers must buy Monsanto seed annually to grow a Roundup Ready crop.
Some experts believed that a recent Supreme Court ruling on "patent exhaustion" indicated that the Supreme Court would grant David's appeal (if patent exhaustion was the issue presented on appeal).
"Patent exhaustion" means that the "first sale" of the patent seed "exhausts" the patent owner's rights.
Under this doctrine, Monsanto could not prevent use of its seed after the first sale.
David did not request the Supreme Court to consider the exhaustion doctrine because he did not believe the earlier ruling to be applicable because Monsanto's license agreement restricts use of the seed - distinguishing his client's case from the case at hand.
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