My husband works for the US Patent Office as a patent examiner (not in the seed department) so I follow with interest the various disputes over patenting seeds and other natural items.
Some patents are improperly issued, which is true in every department of the patent office. People make mistakes. They're human. They also can be required to correct their mistakes, that's part of the process.
Other patents are not based on the thing itself but on a novel use of the thing.
Example -- bupropion is generic for Wellbutrin, an antidepressant. It's now off patent as Wellbutrin (antidepressant), but still patented as Zyban, for use to help people stop smoking. Same drug, different price, depending on whether the Dr. prescribes for depression (it's cheaper generic) or smoking (more expensive due to "use patent.")
Then there's a novel iteration of Wellbutrin, time release, which has a new patent.
If you don't like the idea of intellectual property, this may irritate you, but if it irritates you, get the generic.
BTW, I don't think "jasmati" is the same as jasmine or basmati, sounds like a new kind of rice to me. I know for a fact that jasmine rice is NOT basmati rice, we use both at home for different purposes. Similar, but not the same.
Jasmine for East Asian, basmati for Middle Eastern and Indian. They just go better that way.
But if rice has a yellow color, that's new. Intended to increase Vitamin A in the diet, it's a new invention, and it doesn't hurt the taste at all. |
