The Hindu : Business : India wins patent case on jute

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 12, 2004

Business

Business

India wins patent case on jute

By Indrani Dutta

KOLKATA, OCT. 11. India has won its first a major patent battle before the European Patent Office (EPO) over hessian (a variety of jute cloth used for packaging and as land cover), giving a much needed reprieve to the jute sector.

Making this announcement Arun Bal, the Secretary of the Jute Manufactures Development Council (JMDC), a Union Textile Ministry body, said that the victory had been the outcome of an over five year-long battle which finally ended in August.

Sources at the patent attorney firm which had assisted JMDC in its fight said that documentation of the victory was received in August and the announcement was being made today after the lapse of the appeal period.

Mr. Bal said the fight was taken up at the initiative of Sanjay Kajaria, the immediate-past chairman of IJMA, the industry apex body. Elaborating on the case he said a U.K.-based company, GEOHESS, had patented under European Patent, the use of hessian cloth to cover waste and dumping grounds as an invention thereby holding exclusive rights in almost all European countries on such use of the jute material.

Exports of hessian

Indian exports of hessian to Europe which stood at 86,000 tonnes in 1999-2000 plummeted to 51,000 tonnes by 2001-02, when this dispute was raging. Mr. Bal said exports climbed to 1.42 lakh tonnes by 2003-04 when India started winning the various rounds at EPO. "Now jute manufacturers will be able to export hessian without having to pay any royalty to GEOHESS," Mr. Bal said.

The Jute Commissioner, S. Majumdar, also announced a partial victory wrested by the JMDC from the Brazilian Government, after a 12-year long battle on termination and reduction of dumping duty on import of jute bags from India.

While the duty was waived for five producer-exporters who had co operated with the investigations by supplying necessary data, it was reduced for others by a Brazilian government notification issued in September. The development is significant since Brazil is a major export market for coffee and cocoa packaging.

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