Basmati rice campaign action

Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology October 2000

In 1997 the Texas based RiceTec Inc. obtained Patent No. 5663484 from the US Patent Office on Basmati rice lines and grains. The Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) at Delhi, India along with others filed a case in public interest in the Supreme Court of India on March 4, 1998 seeking the court's direction to urge the Government of India to challenge the patent at the US PTO primarily on the grounds that the patent by the foreign company is in violation of sovereign rights of our country which include the indigenous and inherent knowledge systems of our farmers. It was owing to the pending legal challenge at the Supreme Court and a resulting Court Order that the Government of India was directed to take action to protect the biodiversity and related knowledge of the country.

It was only in June 2000 that the Indian Government filed a "request for Re-examination" at the US PTO. This challenge to the RiceTec Basmati Patent was limited only to claims 15 - 17 of the 20 claims made by the Company. It is because of the pressure built up by the people's movements on the issue, that the Company RiceTec withdrew claims 4, 15, 16 & 17 from its patent. Also the US PTO has opened up all the claims in the patent i.e. claims 1 to 20 for re-examination. The Government of India has until November 8, 2000 to file a reply in its case at the US PTO.

The next step is to have all the claims revoked.

Please call/fax/e-mail to the US PTO officials mentioned below using the contents of the following letter:

URGENT

October 2000

To The Patent Examiners, United States Patent and Trade Mark Office

Re: Cancellation of Patent Number 5663484 wrongly granted to RiceTec for Basmati rice lines and grains

ATTENTION:

Mr. John Doll, Director Tel: 703 308 1123 Fax: 703 308 2742 E-mail: john.doll(at)uspto.gov

Ms. Paula Hutzell, Supervisor Tel: 703 308 4310 Fax: 703 308 2742 E-mail: paula.hutzell(at)uspto.gov

Ms. Melissa Kimball, Examiner Tel: 703 305 6999 Fax: 703 305 3592 E-mail: melissa.kimball(at)uspto.gov

The patent granted to RiceTec for Basmati rice lines and grains is a blatant case of biopiracy - the pirating of genetic material, biological resources and indigenous innovation of Third World countries.

The evidence provided by India in the re-examination of the Patent No. 5663484 shows that not only the grain, but the seeds and plants which produce the grain have been bred and cultivated over centuries in India and Pakistan. Women peasants in these countries have been the seed breeders and the selectors. They have freely shared the seeds resulting from their innovation with gene banks and breeders across the world including the Americas. It was through this free sharing that RiceTec got access to Basmati rice. RiceTec now claims to have invented the Basmati "rice plant", the "seed from said plant", "rice grains from rice seeds", the "method of selecting a rice plant for breeding or propagation" and the "cooking" of a sample of said grains! These are either creative regenerative functions of nature or innovations of Asian women farmers who have engaged in this for centuries.

RiceTec has withdrawn claims 4, 15, 16 & 17 related to the Basmati grain. In the light of evidence provided by India, which was not available to you when the patent was granted, we urge you as patent examiners to cancel all claims 1 - 20 in the present case. What is at stake are rights of millions of farmers in Asia and the Americas, the biological and intellectual heritage of the people of the Indian sub-continent and the integrity of the US PTO.

If the US PTO does not strike down the patent in its entirety, it will lose its credibility as an institution for identifying and rewarding genuine inventiveness and novelty and will acquire a reputation as protector of biopirates like RiceTec.

Anticipating your careful reconsideration of the Basmati Patent.

Yours sincerely,

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GOING FURTHER (compiled by GRAIN)

Tom Hargrove, "RiceTec Withdraws 'Kasmati' Trademark Registration in UK", Planet Rice, 19 October 2000.
http://www.planetrice.net/newspub/story.cfm?id=436

Harish Damodaran, "Basmati battle won, but war far from over", Hindu Business Line, 28 September 2000.
http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2000/09/29/stories/ 072903b9.htm

Danielle Knight, "Groups Take Legal Action to End US 'Biopiracy'", Inter Press Service, Washington DC, 25 April 2000.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/legal.htm

RAFI / Berne Declaration / Gene Campaign, "Controversy Still Steaming over 'Counterfeit' Basmati: Indian Government Prepares to Challenge Basmati Patent in US", 4 January 2000
http://www.evb.ch/bd/basmati.htm

Siddhartha Prakash, "Local species - turmeric, neem and basmati", Trade and Development Case Studies, India Country Study Part 6, Trade & Development Centre, World Bank / World Trade Organisation, 1998.
http://www.itd.org/issues/india6.htm

Uzma Jamil, "Biopiracy: The Patenting of Basmati by RiceTec", Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy ­ South Asia & Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, 8 October 1998
http://www.sdpi.org/ceesp/pub/basmati.htm

Basmati Action Group
http://www.eciad.bc.ca/~lolin/basmati/