NEWS: Japanese company claims patent for Indian curry (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Japanese company claims patent for Indian curry
from India Abroad News Service

New Delhi, Nov 20 - Basmati rice is not the only Indian product for which
other countries have claimed patents. Indian curry might also soon be
patented by the Japanese.

Two Japanese entrepreneurs have filed a patent claim with the Japan Patent
Office for "Cooking of Curry", on behalf of House Foods Corporation, a
leading food company in Japan,  the Hong Kong-based Asiaweek magazine
reported.

The patent application says, "The cooking of curry is carried out by
mixing ingredients such as onion, potato, carrot and meat...with
water...extracted spices at least containing  the extract of turmeric,
cumin and coriander, heating over a slow fire for 10-20 minutes..."

Many Japanese companies, in what seems to be a concerted effort, have
filed similar applications with the Japan Patent Office.

The applications for patents pending in Japan are also listed in the
worldwide list of the European Patent office. The famous Italian Pizza is
also sought to be patented by the Japanese.

The question of patents is scheduled to be discussed at the Seattle round
of multilateral trade talks beginning on November 30.

Japanese enthusiasm to get patents for every eatable in the world will
also have something to do with the lack of proper guidelines in that
country about evaluating intellectual property rights, an official of the
patent office said. Of the 400,000 patent applications filed in Japan every
year an average of 30 per cent are approved.

If curry is patented in Japan, licensing fees will have to be paid to the
patent-holder to make curry on a commercial basis in whichever place the
patent applies to. In that case, curry could prove to be too hot to handle.