U.S. Cancels Patent on Sacred Amazonian Plant
11/05/99
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Title: U.S Cancels Patent on Sacred Plant
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 5, 1999
Indigenous peoples from nine South American countries won a
precedent-setting victory Thursday, as the U.S. Patent Trademark
Office (PTO) canceled the patent issued to a U.S. citizen for the
ayahuasca vine.
The plant, Banisteriopsis caapi, is native to the Amazonian
rainforest. Thousands of indigenous people the region use it in
sacred religious and healing ceremonies, as part of their traditional
religions.
The PTO's decision came in response to a request for re-examination
of the patent filed with the PTO in by the Coordinating Body for the
Indigenous of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the Amazon Alliance for
indigenous and Traditional Peoples, and lawyers at the Center for
International Environmental Law (CIEL).
"Our Shamans and Elders were greatly troubled by this patent. Now
they are celebrating. This is an historic for indigenous peoples
everywhere," says Antonio Jacanamijoy, general coordinator of COICA.
According to David Rothschild, director of the Amazon Alliance,
Ayahuasca is used in sacred indigenous ceremonies throughout the
Amazon. This patent never should have been issued in the first place.
"The PTO based its rejection of the patent on the fact that
publications describing Banisteriopsis caapi were "known and
available" prior to the filing of the patent application.
According to U.S. patent law, no invention can be patented if
described in printed publications more than one year prior to the
date of the patent application. William Anderson, director of the
University of Michigan Herbarium, said that the PTO needs to improve
its procedures for researching applications. CIEL lawyer David Downes
said, "While we are pleased that the PTO has cancelled this flawed
patent, we are concerned that the PTO still has not dealt with the
flaws in its policies that made it possible for someone to patent
this plant in the first place." He explained that "the PTO needs to
change its rules to prevent future patent claims based on the
traditional knowledge and use of a plant by indigenous peoples. "He
also argued that "the PTO should face the issue head-on of whether it
is ethical for patent applicants to claim private rights over a plant
or knowledge that is sacred to a cultural or ethnic group."
In a separate proceeding at the PTO, the three groups have called for
changes in PTO rules. They argue that the PTO should require that
patent applicants identify all biological resources and traditional
knowledge that they used in developing the claimed invention.
Applicants should also disclose the geographical origin, and provide
evidence that the source country and indigenous community consented
to its use.