US Patent Storm Warning In India

Two Members of the European Parliament have promised trouble following the European Patent Office's granting of a patent to the US company WR Grace and the US government for the oil of the neem tree. Speaking in Delhi recently, MEPs Linda Bullard and Magda Aelvoet warned that the battle for control of neem will intensify over the next few weeks.

The move has special significance for India. Neem is an Indian tree, and the knowledge that is being patented and controlled has long been known and used in India. The tree is used as a fungicide, with its leaves warding off insects, and its stalks used as a kind of indigenous toothbrush. If the patent move goes unchallenged, the US government and WR Grace would become the proprietors of a generic resource that has been shared and used by India's people for many centuries.

The MEPs said they would be filing their objection to the granting of the patent this month, as this would mark the end of the nine-month period from the day of the grant of the period during which the notice of opposition has to be filed. Their opposition is mainly on the grounds that the patent fails to meet the basic criterion of being "new and novel." They argue that the patent for the neem oil to be used is not a US discovery.