Curcuma Longa

In establishing the diabolical nature of multinationals, the turmeric patent has often been equated with the neem patent. But in the case of the latter, a new process for preserving a neem seed derivative was patented. This is a different proposition from patenting neem. And such processes have been patented in the United States not only by W R Grace, but also Godrej Soaps. The turmeric case is quite different. In 1993, the University of Mississippi Medical Centre filed a patent application for the use of turmeric powder as a wound healing agent. There was no reason to grant this patent. The wound healing properties of turmeric can at best be a discovery. However, patent offices are not omniscient and often fail to distinguish between discoveries and inventions. This inability to identify novelty becomes especially important in bio-engineering, where the dividing line between inventions and discoveries gets blurred. So the turmeric patent was granted on transgenic cotton. Since patent offices are never omniscient, all legislation provides for challenges to patents, usually brought by competitors or other interested parties. This is how both the transgenic cotton and turmeric patents came to be revoked. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) request has also been turned down. Therefore, there are no patents on turmeric.

 

This establishes certain obvious points. First, patent offices make mistakes. Second, one should have faith in systems, as they invariably provide redressal against such mistakes. Third, as intellectual property increasingly assumes significance, there will be more and more litigation in this area. Fourth, Indian institutions and lawyers have the wherewithal to handle such litigation. Fifth, there is a need to build up computerised databases on patents and other forms of intellectual property. Fees for patent applications are ridiculously low in India. They should be jacked up and the money used to upgrade databases.