TITLE: Pakistan Fights US Cos Registration of Basmati Trademark PUBLICATION: Asia Pulse DATE: 7 October 1998 SOURCE: Asia Pulse Pte Ltd, Australia URL: http://www.asiapulse.com PAKISTAN FIGHTS US COS REGISTRATION OF BASMATI TRADEMARK Wednesday, October 7 1998 LAHORE, Oct 7 Asia Pulse - Pakistan is collecting evidence to move US courts against the registration of Basmati rice with the American Patent body by an American firm. The history of the native Basmati rice is being documented to plead Pakistan's case in the US court. Basmati as its nomenclature shows is a rice variety of Indo-Pakistani origin. The committee to plead Pakistan's case is headed by Federal Secretary of Agriculture Dr. Zafar Altaf, Dr. Mohd. Akbar of National Agriculture Research Center, and Dr. Abdul Majid former Director, Rice Research Institute. The American firm Rice-tech has got Basmati registered with the United States Patent office as its own product under the trade mark, Jasmati and Kasmati. Certain American firms had already registered Tumeric, Neem and Bitter Gourd with the US patent office as their own products. -- ASIA PULSE