INDIA has scored a significant victory in its long-running battle with a US
company over a patent on strains of basmati rice. The US Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) has weakened the controversial patent it granted in 1997 to
Texas-based RiceTec for three strains of “basmati”, a rice traditionally grown
in the Himalayan foothills of India and Pakistan.
RiceTec claimed that the strains were different from traditional basmati in
20 ways, such as grain size, starch content and yield. In April last year,
India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Authority challenged three of
RiceTec’s claims, arguing that genuine basmati could…
