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has been revoked. This is the second patent, after turmeric, which has been
revoked.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
|Disclaimer|
For comments and feedback send Email
© Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2000.