On February 19, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Bowman v. Monsanto, a case that involves the applicability of the patent exhaustion doctrine to patented, self-replicating plant seeds (Bowman had purchased these seeds but replanted them without a license from Monsanto, creating later generations of the patented seeds). The U.S. Government recently filed an amicus brief supporting Monsanto, taking the position that exhaustion only applies to the seeds purchased by Bowman, and not to subsequent generations, which represent infringing “makings” under the patent laws. More from Dennis Crouch at Patently-O.