US Patent on Neem Revoked 
The Times of India News Service 12may00

NEW DELHI -- After six years of legal battles, the controversial Neem  patent has been revoked. This is the second patent, after turmeric, which has been revoked.

At the conclusion of a two-day proceeding, the European Patent Office revoked the neem patent, granted to the US department of agriculture and the multinational corporation, W R Grace. 

The patent was for a fungicide derived from the seeds of the neem tree. The legal opposition to the patent was lodged about five years ago by Research Foundation, headed by environmental activist, Vandana Shiva. 

The panel judged that there was no inventive step involved in this as neem has traditionally been used as a fungicide, Ms Shiva said. The neem patents are a clear case of piracy of Indian indigenous knowledge, she said. 

``We were certain from the beginning that the US patent did not satisfy the basic requirements for a patent. How could they say they invented something which has been in public use for centuries and on which modern scientific research has been carried out in the country for decades,'' Shiva said.  

A statement from the president of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement, Linda Bullard, who also fought the legal battle, said, ``This is a great day not only for us but for all people throuhgout the world, especially for the Third World, who have been fighting to take back control of their resources and knowledge systems from the patent regimes of the north.'' 

The revocation of this patent has important implications for the cases of biopiracy, the TRIPs review and for amendments in India's patent laws, Shiva said.