think is right willing to take on the entire system if they need to do it seventy five year old vernon hugh bowman is going head to head with biotech giant monsanto over alleged patent infringement on old soybean seeds he used on his farm that's located right there in san borne indiana monsanto has a policy that prohibits farmers from saving in reusing seeds from one year to the next bowman says that this policy in itself is seedy but it looks like the supreme court may in fact side with monsanto are to correspondent liz wahl digs up the latest information on this case. it's a case of david versus goliath i don't know but i could see nothing what was wrong seventy five year old vernon hugh bowman in indiana farmer up against monsanto an agricultural giant that owns more than half of the world's seed market if they don't want me to go to the elevator and buy that grain then then congress should pass a law saying you can't do it the case has come all the way to the supreme court monsanto claims boman violated the company's patent on soybeans genetically modified to resist this weed killer at the hea

so what kind of case does monsanto have and do these small farmers like vernon hugh bowman stand a chance to discuss i'm joined now by peter corliss who specializes in biotechnology patents as a partner at words and wildman welcome there peter. first off want to ask you how do you patent is seeing it as a seed of course is something that can reproduce so can the original patent owner really continue to control the use of that yes so it's well established that seeds and other living things such as transgenic mice is another well known example of passable subject matter of living or you know potentially living material that can be patented ok. so next week this case has over to the supreme court where the gentleman that we had the farmer that we mentioned earlier he is taking this the farming giant monsanto so well what will the court consider when tackling this case so the next week's next tuesday the nineteenth it's there and there's the parties of arguments before the court in person court case has been accepted to be considered by the supreme court which is significant i mean that's one

armorer vernon hugh bowman the outcome of which could change the influence of months santo on crops and life patents but the enormous influence one fan to hold over our government today does boman have a chance to talk about the lawsuit and more and i'm joined now by bill freeze science policy analyst at the center for food safety bill thank you so much for coming on yes happy to be here so you were sitting in the supreme court hearing the case today talk about both sides kind of give us a little breakdown and for our audience well i think you bowman is a microcosm of the really deep in systemic injustice in american agriculture that is really greatly harmed american farmers and this has to do with the fact that since the one nine hundred eighty s. biotechnology companies have been allowed to patent seeds and they've also bought up much of the seed supply so with patents they are allowed to criminalize seed saving which has had you know really bad consequences for hugh and other farmers like him and by buying up all these seed firms farmers have ever fewer choices of non patented seeds

versus goliath i don't know but i could see nothing what i done was wrong seventy five year old vernon hugh bowman in indiana farmer up against monsanto an agricultural giant that owns more than half of the world's seed market if they don't want me to go to the elevator and buy the grain then then congress should pass a law saying you can't do it the case has come all the way to the supreme court monsanto claims boman violated the company's patent on soybeans genetically modified to resist this weed killer at the heart of the case being considered by the supreme court is just health bar monsanto's pass and can go the company says the seeds can't be reused once the crop has grown but farmers worry that monsanto has a monopoly over the seed market for generations to come to this farmers saying i buy it see that we're the next generation removed from what you patented that patents shouldn't apply here anymore and monsanto saying the patent applies forever it's a case with wide reaching implications from technology to medicine researchers and businesses are keeping a close eye on what the case could m

the case of monsanto versus this indiana farmer a seventy five year old man by the name of vernon hugh bowman monsanto was accusing him of infringing on their seed but he's not the only small farmer the seed giant has fought in court monsanto has launched one hundred forty four lawsuits against four hundred farmers and fifty six small farm businesses months and so along with two other companies owns more than half of the global seed market so what kind of case does months and months and tell have and do these small farmers stand a chance to discuss i was joined earlier by patty lovera assistant director of food and water watch and i began by asking her about monsanto is right to protect their power and the company's argument is that they've pumped tons of money into research and development and have the right to control their product but the various as many farmers hope that that is not the case. farmers all over the world and you know all over this country are watching this case because this is one of the critical issues involved there's a lot of issues with biotechnology with genetically en

the feud began when vernon hugh bowman was sued.man thought the seeds -- on santa accused bowman of using a technology that hang for it. their contracts with farmers give them exclusive rights to supply the roundup ready soybeans. they sued bowman for patent infringement. >> on wednesday, i spoke about this case, how could impact corporate control of the world's food supply with debbie barker, program director of save our seeds. she co-authored a new report. i spoke with her along with nermeen shaikh from "democracy now!" >> of course the case is hard to know exactly how the supreme court will end up ruling, whether it be narrow or broadly, but the reason why we wrote a brief and in this report supporting hugh bowman is to point out the fact that unfortunately this is a microcosm of a bigger issue of seed patenting and the question of who should own products of life, if you will, living organisms. monsanto has already sued around or has about 144 lawsuits involving about 406 farmers and about 50 plus small farm businesses across 27

monsanto accused vernon hugh bowman of infringing on their seed patents after he planted soybeans purchase from a local grain elevator that contained a monsanto gene. in fact, more than 90% of soybeans in indiana reportedly contain the gene, which allows them to survive when sprayed with the company's roundup weed killer. bowman is appealing his case after he was ordered to pay monsanto $84,000. critics have accused monsanto of using their patents to try to monopolize the supply of certain crops. the case could potentially impact patents across multiple industries. funeral services were held in south africa today for reeva steenkamp, the 29-year-old model allegedly shot dead by her boyfriend, paralympic champion oscar pistorius. earlier in court, prosecutors accused pistorius of premeditated murder, saying he fired at steenkamp four times through a door after she locked herself in the bathroom. pistorius, known as the blade runner because of the shape of his prosthetics, became a global icon as the first paralympic sprinter to run in the olympics. outside the court, protesters with the wom