[asia-apec 1448] US Patent on Neem Revoked

[Anuradha Mittal]

Friday 12 May 2000

US Patent on Neem Revoked
By The Times of India News Service

NEW DELHI: After six years of legal battles, the controversial Neem 
patent has been revoked. This is the second patent, after turmeric, 
which has been revoked.

At the conclusion of a two-day proceeding, the European Patent Office
revoked the neem patent, granted to the US department of agriculture and 
the multinational corporation, W R Grace.

The patent was for a fungicide derived from the seeds of the neem tree. 
The legal opposition to the patent was lodged about five years ago by 
Research Foundation, headed by environmental activist, Vandana Shiva.

The panel judged that there was no inventive step involved in this as 
neem has traditionally been used as a fungicide, Ms Shiva said. The neem 
patents are a clear case of piracy of Indian indigenous knowledge, she 
said.

``We were certain from the beginning that the US patent did not satisfy 
the basic requirements for a patent. How could they say they invented 
something which has been in public use for centuries and on which modern 
scientific research has been carried out in the country for decades,'' 
Shiva said.

A statement from the president of the International Federation of 
Organic Agricultur Movement, Linda Bullard, who also fought the legal 
battle, said, ``This is a great day not only for us but for all people 
throuhgout the world, especially for the Third World, who have been 
fighting to take back control of their resources and knowledge systems 
from the patent regimes of the north.''

The revocation of this patent has important implications for the cases 
of biopiracy, the TRIPs review and for amendments in India's patent 
laws, Shiva said.

For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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