'Basmati battle won'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 21. In a rejoinder to the outcry over the Texas- based company, RiceTec, being given a patent on Basmati rice by the United States Patent Office, the Commerce Ministry has declared that India's objections have been upheld as the latest decision rejects most of the original patent's claims. Echoing the Ministry's viewpoint, the Research Foundation headed by environmental activist, Ms. Vandana Shiva, described this as a victory for India as RiceTec had been forced to give up the title of its patent. In fact, the Foundation said, ``the Basmati battle has been won by us.''

The Ministry clarified that the U.S. Patent Office had actually accepted India's objections raised on the original RiceTec patent granted in 1997. The U.S. company's patent has been restricted to three rice strains which do not impinge on India's interest in exporting Basmati rice to the U.S., it claims in an official note. In effect, the action initiated by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has resulted in cancellation of the ``wide scope'' claims posing a potential threat to the export of Basmati rice. ``With these claims being rejected, the commercial interests of Indian exporters have been fully protected.''

Similarly, the Research Foundation says the patent holder now cannot claim the unique qualities of Indian Basmati or the unique name ``Basmati''.

The Ministry said RiceTec had been granted a patent for certain strains of rice in 1997 and 20 claims were made in its application. Claims 15 to 17 were considered a real threat to the export of traditional or similar rice strains from India to the U.S. Thus, claims 15 to 17 were challenged in April, 2000 by filing a request for re-examination in the U.S. Patent Office to safeguard India's commercial interests. On the filing of this request, RiceTec surrendered claims 4 and 15 to 17.

Subsequently, the U.S. Patent Office found that a ``substantial question of patentability'' affected the remaining claims. Hence it accepted a submission made by the APEDA, and issued a formal notice in March this year to RiceTec. In response, RiceTec withdrew claims to the patent except claims 8,9,11,12 and 13, which related to the specific rice lines developed by it and not to any varieties or lines grown in India.

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