Dear Friends, Good news especially for those concerned about Indian Traditional knowledge. After a 10-year battle, the European Patent Office (EPO) has revoked a patent on a fungicide made from seeds of the Neem tree, which is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, on the grounds of novelty. The decision is seen as a victory for campaigners fighting to stop companies exploiting plant products at the expense of people in the developing world. The patent (EP436257), jointly owned by global company W. R. Grace and the US Department of Agriculture, was granted in 1994 for Neem-based biopesticides for use on food crops. After the patent was granted, the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, Magda Aelvoet (now Belgian Minister of State) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements mounted a legal challenge. They claimed that the fungicidal properties of the Neem tree had been broad public knowledge in India for many centuries, both in Ayurvedic medicine and in traditional agricultural practice. The patent therefore lacked the basic statutory requirements of novelty and inventive step, they argued. They also charged that the patent was contrary to morality, because the patent holders were, in essence, stealing a method that is part of the traditional knowledge base of India. But in 2000, the Opposition Division determined that the patent was not contrary to morality as stated by the European Patent Convention. News item taken from Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, May 2005, p 364. Madhuresh Singhal Aurigene Discovery Technologies Limited, Electronic City, phase II, Hosur Road, Bangalore 560100 Phone 28521314-16 Ext.- 212 Mobile 98861 82822 E-mail: madhureshsinghal@yahoo.com http://nettalk2.tripod.com/