U.S. Supreme Court Monsanto Decision Leaves Patent Exhaustion Questions about Self-Replicating Products Unanswered

Under patent exhaustion, the initial authorized sale of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item. Bowman v. Monsanto Co. et al., No. 11–796, slip op. (May 13, 2013), considered how exhaustion applies to genetically modified soybeans that each reproduce in materially identical form.