If you buy something you own it. Major Supreme Court victory for consumers....

[PoliticAverse]

Lexmark has spent nearly 20 years fighting the war on carbon, trying to stop you from refilling your laser printer cartridges. In 2003, they attempted to use the DMCA and DRM to argue that it was an act of piracy (the courts didn't buy it) and then in 2015, they went all the way to the Supreme Court with the idea that you were violating their patent license terms if you treated the cartridges you purchased as though you owned them.

Today, the Supreme Court told Lexmark it was wrong. Again. Saying that when a patent holder "chooses to sell an item, that product is no longer within the limits of the monopoly and instead becomes the private individual property of the purchaser, with the rights and benefits that come along with ownership."

Read the rest at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/30/printer-eschatology.html

Gizmodo article on the case:
http://gizmodo.com/fans-of-cheap-drugs-and-printer-ink-just-won-big-in-the-1795662756

Scotusblog entry on the case:
http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/impression-products-inc-v-lexmark-international-inc/

[LAS14]

1. So does this apply to genertically modified seeds???? nt

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Excellent point. I wonder....

[Strelnikov_]

4. Ro-Roh . . .

Monsanto check bounced?

[Beartracks]

3. I like this summary...

"The Court explained that people who buy things are allowed to use and resell them without being sued under patent and copyright law, and explained that this freedom is necessary for commerce to function."

==============

[mitch96]

5. I wonder if this cover the John Deere/farmer problem

John Deere made it so that only the dealer could work on or fix the new tractors. Farmers pissed and "hacked" the computers.
http://modernfarmer.com/2016/07/right-to-repair/
m

[WilliamPlanke]

6. So now will farmers get to own the seeds?

Multinational corporations have successfully taken away the ownership of seeds from the hands of the farmers in the form of patents. At present, seeds are largely controlled by industrial giants like Monsanto, Du Pont, Syngenta and Bayer.

I don't know if the same patent claims work outside of the US.

[LeftInTX]

7. Seeds have been sold via "seed contracts" for generations (early 20th Century)

The seeds they purchase are F1 hybrids. F2 hybrids are second generation.

So, if they want F1 hybrids each season, they get new seeds from the grower each season.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid


When a consumer purchases a packet of seeds, they are usually F1 hybrids. Succeeding generations may or may not produce the same results.

Many farmers prefer to purchase seed contracts due to reliability of F1 hybrids.