Us Revokes Haldi Patent

A US patent granted for use of Turmeric powder (haldi) as a wound healing agent to the University of Mississippi Medical Centre, US., has been revoked following objections by the Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The revocation order was passed on August 13, 1997, two years after the grant of patent in March 1995, CISR chief R A Mashelkar announced on Saturday.

It was prompted by a legal challenge mounted by CSIRs attorneys who provided evidence that turmeric powder was a part of the traditional Indian knowledge-base. It was being used in India for ages now as a wound healing agent among other things, and was not a discovery of the US patentee.

 

Mashelkar said this appears to be the first case where the use of traditional knowledge-base of a third world country, patented through a US patent has been successfully challenged with the US patent and Trade Mark Office.

This success sends strong signals, that if patent cases are fought on well argued and well supported techno-legal grounds, then traditional knowledge cannot be taken away.

He said it cost CSIR Rs 5 lakh in legal fees and other charges to fight the case.