So, finally some good news from Munich, the bad and inclement weather notwithstanding- Anivar:)
India wins neem patent battle in Europe Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) India has won a 10-year-long battle at the European Patent Office against the grant of patent on use of neem as a fungicide, citing it as a traditional knowledge available with farmers and the scientific community. The European Patent Office had originally granted the patent to the United States Department of Agriculture and multinational W.R. Grace in 1995, which was later revoked in 2000 after India appealed against the patent. The multinational however went in for an appeal against the patent revocation, which has been rejected after India led by environmentalist Vandana Shiva presented further evidence to support that use of neem in varied forms is part of traditional Indian knowledge and not a novel product. In addition, the documented evidences presented by India included research done by two scientists prior to 1995 on use of neem, known for its medicinal properties, for making several products like fungicide. "This is a major victory for us as the award of patents could have been damaging as the US company had tried to enlarge the scope to include all neem end products," Shiva, who heads the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, told IANS from Munich. "Definitely after this decision to uphold the earlier revocation of the patent, the European Patent Office will be much more careful in granting patents on products based on traditional knowledge," said Shiva. Stressing the need for protecting traditional knowledge, Shiva said the present Indian laws are not stringent enough. "Merely digitalising ayurvedic knowledge is not sufficient. There is a need to provide patent protection for all traditional knowledge to stop product piracy. Over 70 percent of our agriculture practices are based on traditional knowledge," said Shiva. She was part of India's successful bid to protect basmati, a traditional long-grained aromatic rice variety grown only in India and Pakistan, from being patented in the US. Along with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement and Green Party in European Parliament, Shiva has been actively campaigning against the piracy of traditional Indian varieties of wheat by seed multinational Monsanto, which has filed for a patent in Europe. Indo-Asian News Service
