WASHINGTON, February 12: Ah Basmati! Can a rice by any other name smell and taste just as good? No, if you go by Patent Number 5663484 awarded by the US Patent Office to Ricetec, a Texas-based company. Four researchers of the company won the award for inventions relating to novel basmati rice and a new method for breeding them. They are also said to have discovered new means for determining the cooking and starch properties of rice grains.The patent - incidentally registered four months ago in September 1997 - has thrown the Indian Government and rice growers into a tizzy, helped along by an overwrought media. But experts say the brouhaha is unwarranted, and India, which fears the patenting will hurt its exports, can easily retain its market by making a proper case.If anything, one expert said, this can serve as a wake-up call for a traditionally sloppy, incompetent, non-competitive country. According to the US Patent Office in Virginia, Ricetec is well within its rights to register a patent for anynew inventions and innovations it does with basmati rice. This is necessary for them to protect the advances they make. However, where India definitely has a case is if Ricetec markets its new product under the brand name Basmati. In that case, India can argue under a Trips provision on geographical exclusivity that Basmati is a product special to India (and Pakistan).The analogy given here relates to "Champagne". For many years, "Champagne" was also made in California. Last year, the French fought the case on grounds of geographical exclusivity and (Champagne is a province in France) won it, and forced Californian wine growers to change the name of their product to sparkling wine. Similarly, the Portuguese have prevented the British from marketing "Port" and the Mexicans have bagged "Tequila". India can also marshal facts to argue that Basmati is exclusive to the Punjab region of the sub-continent.But Ricetec says they are not selling any rice under the brand name Basmati."We are a small company and Iam a little surprised at what the fuss is all about," Ricetec chairman and CEO Robin Andrews said in an interview from his office in Alvin, Texas. Ricetec employs 100 people and has an annual turnover of $10 million.But experts caution that it is hardly any reason for the Indian Government not to be vigilant and counter even the small inroads Ricetec is making as of now. Ricetec markets its product under other brand names like Texmati, Jasmati and Kasmati. The subtext on the Texmati packet describes the product as a "Long Grain American Basmati." New Delhi can challenge this too if it feels it is hurting Indian interests. For instance, can California wine growers call their product "Campaign?" Says US Deputy Commissioner for Patents Larry Goffney: "If Ricetec has new innovations, then the process patent may be valid. But India would have every legitimate reason to argue that the name Basmati is geographically exclusive to India and the new product can be called anything but Basmati."Goffney is afamiliar and well-liked figure in Indian circles. Last year, he reversed a decision by the Patent Office awarding two University of Mississippi researchers a patent on using turmeric as a healing agent. He accepted the Indian claim that the healing property of turmeric had been widely chronicled in India and it was a common practice. "The Indians marshalled their case very well and their documentation was very good. We have great respect for your experts Dr Mashelkar and Mr Subbaram (both of CSIR)," Goffney said.Incidentally, two facets of the case went unreported at that time. The two researchers who applied for the turmeric patent were both Indians living in the US. And secondly, some 20 per cent of the US Patent Office inspectors are Indians.
