Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co.

Background

The dispute was between Kalo Inoculant Co., a maker of seed inoculants, and Funk Brothers Seed Co., a competing seed company, over a patent on mixed bacterial inoculants. Bond had patented mixed packages of Rhizobium strains that could inoculate several kinds of legume crops. Farmers used single-species inoculants before; Bond claimed a package combining non‑inhibiting strains was his invention and sued for infringement after rivals sold mixed products.

Reasoning

The Court considered whether Bond’s packaged mix was a patentable invention or merely an application of a natural fact. The majority held that Bond had only discovered that certain bacterial strains naturally do not inhibit each other — a phenomenon of nature — and that combining those strains was essentially packaging, not invention. The Court reversed the lower court and found the product claims invalid because the combination produced no new bacteria or new functioning beyond nature’s qualities.

Real world impact

The decision prevents a patent monopoly on mixed inoculant products that rest solely on natural properties of bacteria. Seed makers cannot use these product claims to bar competitors from selling compatible mixed inoculants. The ruling leaves open the possibility that methods of selecting or testing strains might be patentable, but it removes patent protection for the packaged mixes themselves, affecting manufacturers, dealers, and farmers relying on such products.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Frankfurter concurred in result but stressed that specific, identifiable strains might be patentable if adequately described. Justices Burton and Jackson dissented, arguing the combinations met invention requirements, were commercially successful, and were described sufficiently to enable skilled practitioners to use them.