The story behind this:
Excerpts:
In the mid-70s, the prices of Basmati rice in India had spiralled due to increasing demand from West Asia, resulting in a clamour in India to ban its export. The Indira Gandhi government succumbed. But a couple of American entrepreneurs wasted no time in importing Basmati seeds and growing the rice in climatic conditions similar to Dehra Dun’s.
The pioneer in US-grown Basmati is the Texmati farm located 40 miles from Houston. According to the owner, Don Braddock, he started marketing his brand in 1977 and business has since grown several-fold. Today, Texmati can be found in some major food chain-stores, selling at nearly twice the price of Basmati available in Indian grocery stores.
To make matters worse for the Indian importer, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put India-grown Basmati on the blacklist after a series of wounding rejections on the ground that the rice had either too much “foreign element” or enough husk to be branded paddy instead of grain.
FYI: Year of this above article is 1989.
For the current status:
Excerpts:
A re-examination case was filed in April 2000. Soon afterwards, RiceTec withdrew its basmati-like claims for its brand Texmati.
Later, the US Patent Office passed a judgment that “a substantial question of patentability has been raised in respect of the remaining claims” of RiceTec.
RiceTec later withdrew the crucial patent claims and the threat to the export of basmati rice lines from India was averted. India also learnt its lesson and introduced sui generis systems – i.e. ones developed to suit each country’s needs and priorities – to avoid future challenges
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