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Supreme Court Rules For Monsanto In Patent Case
Pigskin-Referee writes in with news of the Supreme Court's decision in a dispute between Monsanto and an Indiana farmer over patented seeds. "The Supreme Court has sustained Monsanto Co.'s claim that an Indiana farmer violated the company's patents on soybean seeds that are resistant to its weed-killer. The justices, in a unanimous vote Monday, rejected the farmer's argument that cheap soybeans he bought from a grain elevator are not covered by the Monsanto patents, even though most of them also were genetically modified to resist the company's Roundup herbicide. Justice Elena Kagan says a farmer who buys patented seeds must have the patent holder's permission. More than 90 percent of American soybean farms use Monsanto's 'Roundup Ready' seeds, which first came on the market in 1996."
"Big Pharma"... more like "Big Farm, eh?"
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Theory. Singular. There is one conspiracy run from a group of powerful individuals dating back to Ancient Egypt.
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The car analogy is: you buy a used (not stolen) Toyota, pull it apart to make molds of the bodywork and parts etc, and then start manufacturing and selling Toyotas.
No, the car analogy is that the Toyota you bought starts making copies of itself. Unsure what else to do, you eat them (?). Then, Toyota (the company, not the car) comes to your house and rapes you for violating their patents on eating cars.
It's like Dick Cheney's dog sh*ts in your yard and suddenly your house belongs to Dick Cheney.
Never mind the Frankenstein stuff. THIS is the real problem with patenting life.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Just to clarify this a little more.
Monsanto claiming that they own the patent on the seed after it's gone through a generation of mutations, is akin to a prosecutor stating that xyz female is guilty of a crime committed by abc male because their DNA is 90+% matching.
With that low level of dna matching, a bonobo could be brought to trial because their DNA is over 90% identical to that of a human.
They were selling the soybeans for 'feed, milling, and other uses'. Not for seed to be planted.
Well clearly Monsanto need to add DRM to their seeds because we can't have people buying seeds and then using them in an unlicensed fashion. I suppose the method that would work best in this case is to install a root kit.