Bharat Wins Turmeric Battle

[Jyotishi at aol.com]

BHARAT WINS PATENT BATTLE ON TURMERIC POWDER

Excerpts begin:
   New Delhi, August 24, 1997 (Reuter) - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
has rejected a patent for a U.S. university for use of turmeric powder as a
healing agent after India challenged the patent saying the technique was not
new, an Indian government statement said. 
   "After a long techno-legal argument, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
(US PTO) has unequivocally rejected all the six claims of US Patent No
5401504 for the use of turmeric powder as a wound healing agent on August 13,
1997,'' said a statement issued late on Saturday. 
 [...]
   "The patent was granted to the University of Mississippi Medical Centre on
March 28, 1995. India's state-run Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) challenged the patent on October 28, 1996, the statement
said. 
   "'This is a significant development of far reaching consequences for the
protection of the traditional Indian knowledge base in the public domain,''
the statement said. 
   "'This success sent strong signals that if patent cases are fought on well
with well-supported techno-legal grounds, there is nothing to fear about
protecting our traditional knowledge base,'' [CSIR director general]
Mashelkar said. . . ." 
 End of excerpts

What a great victory!

Jyotishi
http://www.flex.com/~jai
Om Shanti