Politics

Supreme Court Upholds Monsanto's Patent Rights on Seeds

Farmer can't buy seeds harvested from crops grown from Monsanto seeds, court rules

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The U.S. Supreme Court bolstered Monsanto Co. (MON)'s ability to control the use of its genetically modified seeds, ruling that companies can block efforts to circumvent patents on self-replicating technologies.

The justices unanimously upheld an $84,456 award Monsanto won in a lawsuit against Vernon Hugh Bowman, an Indiana farmer. Rather than buying herbicide-resistant soybean seeds from a Monsanto-authorized dealer, Bowman used harvested soybeans containing the technology to plant his crops.