US patent on turmeric

US patent number 540504 on “the use of turmeric in wound healing” was granted to two scientists of University of Mississippi Medical Center. This was challenged by CSIR, India that requested the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to re-examine the patent as turmeric has been used for thousands of years for healing wounds and rashes, and hence, its medicinal use was not novel. USPTO upheld the objections and revoked the patent.

Box item 2

European patent on neem

European patent number 0436257 was granted to the US Corporation W. R. Grace and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a “method of controlling fungi on plants by the aid of hydrophobic extracted neem oil.” A group of Indian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and representatives of Indian farmers legally opposed the patent, submitting evidence that the fungicidal effect of extracts of neem seeds has been known and used for centuries in Indian agriculture to protect crops. With the claim of being non-novel, the patent was revoked.

Box item 3

European patent on Indian wheat

EP number 445929 was granted to American seeds multinational Monsanto for the wheat variety “invented” by crossing a traditional Indian wheat “Nap-Hal” with another soft wheat variety. Nap-Hal germplasm was accessed by the company from UK collection. The patent granted in 13 countries gave Monsanto monopoly rights over the traditional characteristics of the Indian wheat variety and it also covered biscuits, flour and dough produced from this wheat. This enabled the company to take legal action against the Indian farmers trying to breed wheat with similar genetic traits. This patent was legally challenged by Greenpeace and Indian farmers, following which the patent on this wheat variety was revoked.

Patenting life forms

The entire idiom of Western legal practices and the vocabulary of IP protection law carve out exclusive rights to an individual to exploit creations of human ingenuity. This has resulted in attempts to privatize even community rights over biodiversity (BD) and indigenous knowledge. Such attempts to monopolize or patent life forms such as crops and seeds are raising concerns about removal of control of food production from local communities and farmers to multinational corporations (Box item 3).

Biotrade – an ecological concern

There is a marked imbalance in the system of IP rights due to insistence of monopoly rights only to the field of technology and denying it to the vast pool of knowledge reserve of indigenous communities that have so far managed the natural resources. This has generated a global push to privatize BD. Many countries and the large businesses they support increasingly want control over these resources and the knowledge associated with them for commercial purposes. The IP regime has greatly facilitated such drives. Thus, against the threat of depletion of global biological reserves, there is a large “biotrade,” i.e., movement of biological reserves between countries, companies, academic institutions and individuals, which is a cause of serious concern. Booming global trade in herbal products, demand for exotic herbs and other natural materials, and associated rampant commercialization have thus made economy, a driving factor, tilting even governmental decisions in favor of biotrade in the name of profitable overseas trade and research ventures.

This is causing a disruption in the relationship between the TK generators and their resources, leading to the disintegration of the very processes by which the knowledge evolved and is kept alive.

BD appropriation

In the resultant scenario of fast vanishing natural resources, the IP regime has raked up the conflict of the rules of division and appropriation of BD. BD refers to the variability of life forms within an ecological zone. It has become increasingly important because of the scientific and commercial interest attached to it with a range of different groups including indigenous people asserting their claims and rights to it.

The imminent threat to global BD resulted in the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). Member countries under this international convention have enacted BD laws to protect national BD reserves and to provide a comprehensive framework for the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. The IP right framework enacted on biological reserves will also have significant social and human impact as biological resources are not only economic resources but also constitute the primary food supplies of the nation. Despite disparate resistance to incursion on indigenous rights to local resources, communities are increasingly losing control over their resources as industry supported by governments is establishing greater control over plant genetic resources and the associated knowledge through the use of IP rights.