Battleangel

Via Piratbyrån …

India has won a 10-year-long battle at the European Patent Office against the grant of patent on use of neem as a fungicide, citing it as a traditional knowledge available with farmers and the scientific community.

The European Patent Office had originally granted the patent to the United States Department of Agriculture and multinational W R Grace in 1995, which was later revoked in 2000 after India appealed against the patent.

The multinational however went in for an appeal against the patent revocation, which has been rejected after India led by environmentalist Vandana Shiva presented further evidence to support that use of neem in varied forms is part of traditional Indian knowledge and not a novel product.

Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA

Another well known example relates to when the same Vandana Shiva protected basmati rice, which is grown only in India and Pakistan, from being patented in the US, a few years back:

She tells a fascinating story about a Texan company that has patented the aromatic rice Basmati. You can hear the incredulity in her voice as she says ‘that’s the rice from MY valley! We’ve grown it for hundreds of years!’ She laughing goes on to say that the heritage of colonialism mean that’s for some people discovery = creation. Under today’s intellectual property rights, where genomes are owned by corporations, creation means ownership. Shiva calls this theft.

Source: Greenpeace

Discovery, creation and colonialism are important words to remember here. Also bio-piracy, which is in terms of power relations, the opposite of the kind of copyright and patent piracy we hear so much about these days.

Obviously the neem outcome is an important victory against those that would patent the stars and the planets if they could. Think in terms of Cecil Rhodes, the man who on his deathbed lamented not being able to annex the planets, even though they seemed to close in the night sky. This fits in nicely with the imperialistic power ambitions of certain nations that also stand behind these patents all the way.

The “problem” with India is that they have traditionally been too naive with regard to patents and IP. For a country where over 70 percent of agriculture practices are based on traditional knowledge, there isn’t much use for patents. Nor should it be. Why would anyone go to great lengths to steal what poor farmers in India have known for centuries. It doesn’t make sense. It is such organized evil that decent people can’t even grasp the concept.

But the irony here is that the United States is forcing India to take the road of patents to protect their very lives. Basically, even if the US fails in procuring any patents, they still make a team player out of India and that is almost as important. It would be horrible for them if almost the entire Asian continent flipped the bird at patents as it could, in the long run, thoroughly break the system.
And lets not forget the EU. Even if they did the right thing in this case they also largely support the abuse of less industrialized countries. They would probably do more if they could. It’s difficult to say what upsets them more, the fact that the US holds more patents than they do, are better at patenting things (more lenient regulations) and thus can’t abuse the 3rd world as well as the US can .. OR that they are in fact genuinely upset by the way the US handles the issue. Crocodile tears as it were.

It also comes down to prior existing knowledge. Conveniently enough, the US only recognizes so called “prior existing knowledge” if it’s published in a journal - not if it has been passed along as tradition and culture. Which is just perfect if you’re an industrialized country that formed only a few centuries ago and has no real cultural heritage like that.
Armed with such weapons, big bio-tech companies have been traveling the globe like locusts. Stopping at less industrialized countries, assimilating their cultural heritage, a heritage that just barely keeps them afloat in a sea of starvation. The next thing you know, these robber barons will be back with a legal document that forces governments and farmers to follow IP agreements or face the consequences, which as we know from previous encounters with the US may be dire. In essence they will over night be forced to buy back what they already knew and by all reasonable standards has been public domain for a millennium.