The Supreme Court on Monday for the first time backed patents for a self-replicating technology – Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" soybeans – along with its licensing agreement that allows farmers to use them only once.

Regardless of how unnatural the conditions may seem, the licensing agreement with farmers also forbids the seeds to be resold for commercial planting, and they cannot be used for research, crop breeding or seed production.

Welcome to farming in the age of patented, genetically modified organisms, which in this case concerned soybean crops that withstand herbicide.

In the end, a unanimous Supreme Court found that intellectual property rights took precedent over nature. The high court ruled against an Indiana soybean farmer whom a lower court had ordered to pay $84,456 in damages and costs to Monsanto in 2009 for infringing its soy bean patents.

"If simple copying were a protected use, a patent would plummet in value after the first sale of the first item containing the invention," Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the majority. "The undiluted patent monopoly, it might be said, would extend not for 20 years as the Patent Act promises, but for only one transaction. And that would result in less incentive for innovation than Congress wanted." (.pdf)

Knox County farmer Vernon Bowman's dirty deed? The 74-year-old bought soybean seed from a local grain elevator that was contaminated with the patented seed, which he used to produce beans on his 299 acres.

The case addresses the question of how far down the stream of commerce — in this instance the farming cycle — can a company control its patents, especially for products like soybeans that easily self-replicate. A lower court, an appeals court and even the President Barack Obama administration had maintained the stream is virtually endless.

The Supreme Court agreed.

"Were the matter otherwise, Monsanto’s patent would provide scant benefit," Kagan wrote, adding: "Our holding today is limited—addressing the situation before us, rather than every one involving a self-replicating product."

The Obama administration had told the Supreme Court in a filing that the justices should not concern themselves with the possibility that such rigid patent protectionism could undermine traditional farming techniques, where parts of one harvest are often used to produce the next. The administration said Congress "is better equipped than this court" (.pdf) to consider those concerns.

Monsanto had told the court that, if the justices sided with the farmer, such a decision would doom its business model. (.pdf)

"Without reasonable license restrictions prohibiting the replanting of second- and later-generation soybeans, Monsanto’s ability to protect its patented technology would effectively be lost as soon as the first generation of the product was introduced into the market," the agriculture giant told the high court in a filing.

Farmer Bowman began purchasing Monsanto's patented seeds in 1999 and, because of the licensing agreement, did not save any of the seed for future planting. But he also bought so-called "commodity" seed from a local grain elevator, which acts as a clearinghouse for farmers to buy and sell seed.

The elevator's seed was contaminated with Monsanto's patented seed because more than 90 percent of the soybeans planted in the area were Roundup Ready crops. Bowman planted that commodity seed, which was substantially cheaper to purchase, to produce a second, late-season crop, which is generally more risky and lower yielding.

He then used seeds generated in one late-season harvest to help produce subsequent late-season crops. The court said Bowman knew the seed was Monsanto's because they withstood herbicide.

Monsanto sued him for patent infringement, and he lost.

"Practically, this issue affects every farmer in the country and the method of planting that farmers such as Mr. Bowman have used for generations," (.pdf) Bowman's attorneys said.

Bowman urged the Supreme Court to analyze whether the law allows patent holders to "continue to assert patent rights after an authorized sale."