Anyway, thought all of you might enjoy this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/business/supreme-court-to-hear-monsa nto-seed-patent-case.html?hp

It's a clever end-run around Monsanto and the seed combines.

Great to hear from you! I've been wondering how you are. Dixondale onion day was yesterday, and it always makes me think of you because I order Cippolinis.

The tiller is hanging in there, but I think it misses you. I think you drop by and take some abuse/I mean use it sometime.

I'm pullling an all nighter so I'm going to read the article later. Thanks for sharing. Is your email still the same? If not, I'd love for you to drop me a very quick line so I'll have it.

Take care!

Seedmama

Where did you go? Sure hope you are prospering there.

Thanks for the detailed article. I do believe the farmer is in the right. Although, I'd like to see things go much farther in his direction. It absolutely burns me up that these large companies can take money from innocent farmers whose fields were CONTAMINATED BY THEIR SEED! It should, morally, be the other way around. Notice that the biotech position is based sheerly on economic reasoning (we will lose money, grants, etc. if people can save seed.).

George
Tahlequah, OK

I hope you know how much we miss you here! I think of you every time anyone mentions bamboo. (Well, and at other times too.) I am sorry your career keeps you too busy to garden, but at least you can look forward to having the time to garden once you retire.

Thanks for thinking of us and for posting the link.

How do you think the court will rule?

I'd like to believe (and completely hope and pray) that they will rule in favor of the farmer, but fear they will not.

George, I agree with every word you said! In many areas of our lives, technology is such a blessing, but I am totally opposed to the way Big Ag is trying to control the ownership of plant material that God created. I believe the large multinational seed corporations have a form of greed that is immoral and their actions reflect that. I also don't believe they should be able to patent any form of animal/human DNA either. God created life. These companies did not.

Dawn

I pray that Farmer Bowman wins this case!

Susan

We have discussed this case more than once.

The questions presented to the Sup Ct are "Whether the Federal Circuit erred by (1) refusing to find patent exhaustion in patented seeds even after an authorized sale and by (2) creating an exception to the doctrine of patent exhaustion for self-replicating technologies?"

Pete thinks it's an ownership issue - that the right of ownership does not continue indefinitely. After Monsanto received payment for the seed, this terminated their rights to have control over the seed in the future.

One of the questions presented was whether the Appeals Courts erred when they created an * exception to patent exhaustion* for self-replicating technologies. In general, the Sup Ct is wary of lower courts that create exceptions to existing law.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Once in a while, the Court will choose to hear a David v. Goliath case like this one. The facts in this case would make most people feel sympathetic to Mr. Bowman, the 75 year old farmer who represented himself and went to the library to do legal research because he didn't have a computer.

Aligned against Mr. Bowman are some of the biggest corporations in the world - including The Software Alliance which represents Apple and Microsoft. As usual, the corporations contend that they will be "devastated" if the Court does not rule in their favor.

The Sup Ct hears very few cases. Tens of thousands of cases are appealed to the Sup Ct. every year. They agree to hear a tiny fraction - so far this year, they have agreed to hear less than 50. Why did they accept this particular case? We will probably never know. I wonder if they felt sympathetic toward Mr. Bowman.

Oral argument is on Tuesday morning. If you go to Scotusblog (link to Mr. Bowman's page below), you can read the transcript and hear the audio of oral argument afterwards. I don't know how long it takes before the transcript and audio go up - not long. I often hear parts of an oral argument on NPR the same night. When you listen to an oral argument, you get a pretty good sense of how the Justices view the case.

But .... there are nine justices, Most decisions are not unanimous. Regardless of the merits, you never feel confident when you go before a Court.

We will keep Mr. Bowman in our heart and prayers.

Pam