Specifically, the U.S. patent system props up Biopiracy with no recourse for indigenous people or governments

U.S. PhRMA owes traditional knowledge much of their profits since many commercial products have been derived from traditional knowledge. Due to a push towards more natural medicines in the U.S., pharmaceutical companies began looking towards India’s natural remedies as potential sources for alternative medicines for those who could not afford allopathic medicine (Patwardhan & Vaidya & Chorgadhe, 2004, p. 791). U.S. PhRMA would send researchers to live in indigenous communities in an attempt to try to further research therapeutic plants with healing potential that indigenous people used. Also, these researchers would then do their own research on those plants in order to create and patent drugs based off of it (Patwardhan & Vaidya & Chorgadhe, 2004, p. 792). As a result of stealing traditional knowledge, U.S PhRMA has profited an upwards of 14 billion dollars annually. Also, research to create drugs and medicines have been based on traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine (Patwardhan & Vaidya & Chorgadhe, 2004, p. 793). This, again, is stealing of traditional knowledge, but the U.S. believed they were not stealing because the traditional knowledge was not patented to begin with (Subbiah, 2004, p. 530). The United States is more concerned with earning large economic profits and justify their actions through cultural superiority

U.S. patent law disregards traditional knowledge and does not make an attempt to ensure traditional knowledge is not stolen or protected. This can be seen in the novelty requirement of U.S. patent law, 35 U.S.C. section 102 (a), which states that “the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for a patent” (Pre-AIA, 2013). This definition of “novel” for a patent, does not take into account the oral history that makes up a vast amount of traditional knowledge, or recorded but scientifically unpublished traditional knowledge.

To further this argument, the 1994 U.S. patent filed for a Neem tree oil pesticide can be referenced. The Neem tree has oils that are natural pesticides, and U.S scientists slightly modified it and patented it. Although this should not be patentable because the neem oil has always been used in India as a pesticide, India does not have patents for it as Indian patent law did not allow for patenting of agricultural inventions prior to the TRIPS agreement (Kadidal, 1997, p. 29). Due to this, the U.S did not recognize the traditional knowledge since it was not a “printed publication,” and allowed the patent to be approved. Instead of recognizing the traditional use of Neem tree oil that has been historically recorded in unpublished accounts, the U.S. approved the patent (Kadidal, 1997, p. 31). This allows traditional knowledge to be stolen and placed at a higher economic value to benefit the economy of the United States at the expense of India.

Another blatant case of misconduct from the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) arose from the turmeric patent that was granted to the University of Missouri in 1995 for wound healing. The patent application stated that turmeric has been used in India for wound healing for many years, but this product is novel due to recent “scientific credibility” from the scientific research done (Jaenchiang, 1996, p. 1). It was revoked after the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India filed for the patent to be reevaluated. Evidence to support traditional knowledge cited that turmeric has been used for wound healing as early as the 1950s by Indian researchers with some of those texts even cited in the initial turmeric patent application itself (Jaenchiang, 1996, p. 1) Considering that the patent application made direct reference to traditional knowledge by including citations from Indian researchers, the U.S PTO should have rejected it immediately. The approval of the patent shows the lack of protection being given to traditional knowledge in U.S. patent law, and how western research is valued more than previously published indigenous research or traditional knowledge. Also, this patent law case demonstrates how the U.S. PTO does not include historical records of traditional knowledge as “printed publications” causing many patents to be wrongly approved on the basis of being novel.

Lastly, I will discuss the 1994 patent law case on Basmati rice where a Texas based company, RiceTec, patented a hybrid strain of rice that was made to be similar to Basmati rice. The RiceTec patent was called “Basmati Rice Lines and Grains” (Subbahi, 2004, p. 550). For two decades before they filed this patent, RiceTec sold this rice under different names like “Kasmati” or “Texmati” as the American version of Basmati rice, indicating that profits from Basmati rice were made even before the patent was issued. The U.S. PTO passed the patent allowing RiceTec to sell “basmati rice” that is the same product as Indian basmati rice. It did not block Indian basmati rice from being sold in U.S. markets, but now provided direct competition and a loss of profit for Indian business. Four years later, the Indian government took action to fight the patent saying it was threatening the livelihood of India’s farmers. To do so, India had to prove that all of the farming techniques used by RiceTec were techniques already used in India and, therefore, were not novel. When the U.S. PTO reinvestigated the patent, they only rejected parts of it, allowing RiceTec to still have multiple lines of their rice on the market (Subbahi, 2004, p. 553). This case shows how even after India tried to fight a case of stolen traditional knowledge, the United States did not fully recognize it and allowed the patent to still be maintained at the economic cost of Indian farmers. Also, this patent law case demonstrates how the United States values the economic power of patents more so than the value of novel patents. Moreover, the case shows that even with pressure from the Indian government, U.S, power and cultural hegemony lead to little to no qualms about India’s retaliation after the outcome of the case was finalized. The U.S knows they are powerful and uses their cultural hegemony to maintain dominance over India.