GM Canola on the Prairie: gene patents, farmers rights

On 20 January 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada heard an appeal by Percy Schmeiser, a 73 year old canola farmer from Bruno, Saskatchewan, against findings that he had infringed the patents of the biotechnology company Monsanto. The matter raises important questions about gene patents, innocent infringement, and farmers rights. Are biological inventions patentable like mechanical inventions? Can an innocent bystander be held liable for infringing a patent? Should farmers privileges to save seed trump patent rights and technology user agreements? The case concerns a Canadian patent granted to Monsanto in 1993 for an invention named Glyphosate-Resistant Plants. The patent was for man-made genetically engineered genes, and cells containing those genes which, when inserted in plants, in this canola, make those plants resistant to glyphosate herbicides such as Monsantos product Roundup Ready.