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Malaysian trademark for India's Ponni rice
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Saturday, 14 June, 2008, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Basmati, Sona Masoori and Ponni are internationally well-known rice varieties of India. In the year 1997, we almost lost the exclusive trademark of Basmati after a patent was awarded to the US-based Ricetec for the world's best known aromatic rice. It took more than three years, until 2000, for the Indian government to get its acts together and get the patent reversed in favour of India. Basmati rice is produced only in India and Pakistan and no other country can claim/seek patent rights for this premium rice that is very much in demand across the world. According to a report, now the Ponni variety of rice, produced in the fertile banks of the Cauvery river across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, has been registered under the Malaysian Trademark Act by the local retail giant Syarikat Faiza. Ponni has not been registered for GI (Geographical Indication) in India. Ironically, the trademark grant would allow Faiza to package any variety that even remotely resembles Ponni, use the brand name and sell it to consumers across the world. The grant of Ponni trademark to Faiza would also enable it to route the rice imports into the country, the biggest Ponni consumer in the world, and export it to other countries under its trademark. In the long run, this could damage the real Ponni rice brand among its expat consumers and leave the field open for different rice varieties to compete for the brand name. Ponni rice was selling globally at $ 1,000 a tonne before the Government of India banned the export of all non-Basmati rice in April. But there is every likelihood that the price will plunge to $700-750 a tonne by the time the export ban is lifted. All the more so if other similar varieties of rice are passed off as Ponni by anyone who holds the trademark. Worse, it could seriously work to the detriment of the Ponni brand of rice from the Cauvery delta.
The issue, naturally, cannot go unchallenged. This has to be fought under the Intellectual Property Rights. The contention is that Ponni is a generic term for all rice grown in the region and, therefore, it is not a trademark issue but a GI issue. The Ponni for this variety of rice, meaning gold, is itself derived from the Cauvery delta and refers solely to the richly fertile soil of the region and the entirety of its climate that is invested in every grain of the Ponni rice. Use of a GI would act as a certification that the product possesses certain specific qualities, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin. The traditional Ponni variety has been celebrated as far back as during the period of the Chola dynasty from the 9th to the 12th century, even if not conclusively to the Pallava period. The argument would not be pegged on the parentage alone, but primarily on the name Ponni and its origin in the Cauvery delta. As it is known, a Scotch whisky cannot be made elsewhere in the world except Scotland. Basmati rice, Ponni rice, Darjeeling tea, Alphonso mangoes, Tirupati laddus etc. cannot be produced except where they come from. The Government of India must recognise the importance and act fast to codify and register the GI for our traditional products before other countries claim/own them, snatch the property rights and get away with it.
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