NEW DELHI, February 12: The government appears confident that it will be able to reverse the US Patent Office's decision to grant a patent for `basmati-type' rice to a UK-based firm Rice Tec. The Agricultural Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), which functions under the Ministry of Commerce, in fact, has filed a case against the company a couple of years ago and have won a similar case against it for using the name "basmati" in Greece. Government officials also say that, as in the case of turmeric - where India got the US patent on this reversed last year - they will use the logic that this is part of the culture of the sub-continent and cannot be patented. Adds trade economist Bibek Debroy, "The US patent by itself has no meaning. The US law provides for grant of a patent first before calling for objections. If there are objections, the patent can be reversed."Other experts, however, point out that this may not be that simple as, unlike turmeric, there may not be enough evidence to show thatthe "basmati" strain is peculiar to the sub-continent. In the turmeric case, the government was also able to provide evidence through ancient literary works that turmeric as a healer was traditionally in use in India it has no such evidence in the case of basmati rice. Besides, it will also have to prove that Rice Tec's rice is just a strain of "basmati". In case it isn't, they cannot object to the patent in itself, but will have to limit their objection to using the term "basmati". The US patent has caused concern because of its implications to Indian exporters and growers over the long-term. Exporters fear that the use of an existing, popular Indian brand name could be misleading, affecting the Indian market share in basmati exports.
