Cite as: 534 U. S. 124 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
past been and still [is] infringing one or more [Pioneer patents] by making, using, selling, or offering for sale corn seed of the . . . hybrids in infringement of these patents-in-suit." Id., at 10.
Farm Advantage answered with a general denial of patent infringement and entered a counterclaim of patent invalidity, arguing that patents that purport to confer protection for corn plants are invalid because sexually reproducing plants are not patentable subject matter within the scope of 35 U. S. C. § 101 (1994 ed.). App. 12-13, 17. Farm Advantage maintained that the Plant Patent Act of 1930 (PPA) and the Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) set forth the exclusive statutory means for the protection of plant life because these statutes are more specific than § 101, and thus each carves out subject matter from § 101 for special treatment.1
The District Court granted summary judgment to Pioneer. Relying on this Court's broad construction of § 101 in Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U. S. 303 (1980), the District Court held that the subject matter covered by § 101 clearly includes plant life. 49 USPQ 2d 1813, 1817 (ND Iowa 1998). It further concluded that in enacting the PPA and the PVPA Congress neither expressly nor implicitly removed plants from § 101's subject matter. Id., at 1819. In particular, the District Court noted that Congress did not implicitly repeal § 101 by passing the more specific PVPA because there was no irreconcilable conflict between the PVPA and § 101. Id., at 1821.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the judgment and reasoning of the District
1 Petitioners favor a holding that the PVPA is the only means of protecting these corn plants primarily because the PVPA's coverage is generally less extensive and the hybrid seeds at issue do not have PVPA protection. App. 14. Most notably, the PVPA provides exemptions for research and for farmers to save seed from their crops for replanting. See infra, at 140. Utility patents issued for plants do not contain such exemptions.
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