[asia-apec 1448] US Patent on Neem Revoked
Anuradha Mittal
amittal at foodfirst.org
Wed May 17 00:52:34 JST 2000
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patent has been revoked.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which has been revoked.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
For comments and feedback send Email to Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
2000.
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