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the Poor leader Wirapol Sopa and Witoon Lianchamroon of the NGO BioThai, amongst others. The group made the following three demands of the US: • The US Government must revoke the Jasmati patent and must refuse to grant any patents on Jasmine rice or other indigenous rice varieties from Thailand; • Must urgently cancel the trademarks on Jasmine, Jasmati, or other marks that may confuse the public into believing that such rice is Jasmine Rice; • Must stop direct and indirect pressures to force developing countries to provide patent protection of lifeforms (Tanasugarn, 1998). The Thai government was in the midst of dealing with Thailand’s sizable national economic crisis at the time, and therefore it is reported that they did not adequately inform the public or attempt to reconcile their concerns in a timely manner. Consequently, the King of Thailand, who does not usually become involved in such political matters, granted an audience to executives of IRRI, where it was believed that the genetic material had been obtained by Ricetec, Inc. IRRI quickly made a public statement that they did not condone the ‘Jasmati’ trademark, and believed it may ‘mislead consumers that such rice is Jasmine rice, grown in Thailand, or Basmati rice, grown in other Asian countries’ (Tanasugarn, 1998). The Jasmati trademark has since been approved for renewal in 2003. Only one challenge has been made on the trademark by another US Company named Sun Lee, Inc., likely to be a claim over a similar logo graphic used by both companies. The action was dismissed by the US Trial and Appeal Board (USPTO, Acc 2006). The Thai Government and Thai companies to date have not challenged the trademark. Another interesting US patent has since been identified as Patent Number 5,208,063 assigned to RiceTec, this time the subject of a process patent that yields fluffy and tender cooked rice with similar characteristics to that of Jasmine rice (Tanasugarn, 1998). The patent does not however mention Jasmine rice, and thus did not arouse significant controversy. This does however arouse curiosity about whether Ricetec, Inc. were intending to use this process to give the ‘Jasmati’ product characteristics more like Thai Jasmine rice, thus contributing to further possible deception. It is a common belief for the Thai people that plants and animals should be excluded from intellectual property protection. Tanasugarn (1998) argues that many Americans who complained that the Jasmine rice crisis was blown out of proportion to its actual severity should understand that the Thais’ resentment towards any attempt to monopolise plants is base on their agricultural background and heritage. Since rice is the most important crop culturally and economically for Thailand, the issue became particularly sensitive. Thailand has since been considering the geographical indication of Jasmine rice, under its new Act on Protection of Geographical Indications B.E. 2546 (2003) discussed in Section 3.5. However Thailand has reportedly been under pressure from the US not to provide such protection, but rather to undertake trademark protection for individual companies that sell and export the rice. This would clearly be a less favourable option for Thailand. Trademark protection would not necessarily stop similar misuses of Jasmine rice, but only protect individual companies. 47
While the use of geographical indications to protect Jasmine rice may be able to stop similar deceptions of the public relating to the name ‘Jasmine’ as has been reported here, it would not necessarily protect Jasmine rice from cases where the germplasm is accessed, modified and potentially patented. Such concerns arose in Thailand with media coverage of the Stepwise Programme for the Improvement of Jasmine Rice for the US. Concerns relating to the Stepwise Programme are described below. Stepwise Programme for the Improvement of Jasmine Rice for the US The ‘Stepwise Programme for the Improvement of Jasmine Rice for the US’ has also been the subject of potential biopiracy (of tangible and intangible property) and competitiveness concerns. The programme has been the subject of debate in numerous meetings in Thailand and has appeared in the press with outraged comments made by NGOs and members of the Thai public (see the Nation, Nov 6 2001). The purpose of the Programme is to develop jasmine rice that US farmers can grow easily and profitably, and thus compete with Thai imports according to Dr J. Neil Rutger, project coordinator and director of the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center, US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Public concerns and news media coverage in Thailand has focused primarily on the partner project run by plant breeder Chris Deren in the University of Florida Everglades Research and Education Center (see for example, Bangkok Post, 11 th Dec 2003; Nation 6 th Nov 2001). The programme uses two methods including induced mutations of Jasmine rices using gamma ray irradiation, and using conventional breeding methods, cross-breeding Jasmine rice varieties to improve the varieties to US conditions. Regarding the conventional method, Deren has been cross-breeding Khao Dawk Mali with Jasmine 85. Scientists selected Jasmine 85 as IR841, from the 841st IRRI cross, made in 1966 by Dr. Ben Jackson, Rockefeller Foundation rice breeder and IRRI liaison in Thailand from 1966 to 1983. Organic Jasmine 85 sells well as a "niche rice" to upscale U.S. customers who want new, healthy products--but not to the larger ethnic Asian market (Nation 6 th Nov 2001). Thus the Stepwise Programme uses two varieties that originated in Thailand and have since been modified to suit US conditions. The improvement of these varieties by Thai farmers, and the generosity of the Thai people to have allowed such germplasm exchange in the past have arguably been taken advantage of. These breeders can thus reduce the need for the US to import Jasmine rice products from Thailand, and also compete with Thai Jasmine rice in international markets. An even greater concern has been that they may yet decide to patent the products in the US and thus potentially monopolise the use of such germplasm there. Deren's rice is very similar to a variety of Thai jasmine rice called Khao Pathum Thani 1. If Deren were to patent the varieties that he bred or mutated, there could be consequences for Thai exports. Kuanpoth notes that if there are doubts about the similarity of the two varieties, Thai exporters will have to provide scientific evidence that the rice they sell in the US is a different variety from Deren's. They have to prove that they did not violate Deren's exclusive rights over his new variety. The testing could take a long time, could cost Thai exporters, and sacks of Thai jasmine rice could sit idle at US ports for considerable amounts of time (The Nation, 6 th Nov 2001). 48
Page 1 and 2:
Governance and Micropolitics of Tra
Page 3 and 4:
CONTENTS List of Tables, Figures an
Page 5 and 6: Abbreviations and Acronyms ABS ARCB
Page 7 and 8: Executive Summary (Thai translation
Page 9 and 10: passing of the Bill has suffered fr
Page 11 and 12: policy and law in this study. The u
Page 13 and 14: cases 3 , particularly where a reso
Page 15 and 16: 2. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS, AGRE
Page 17 and 18: institutionalised in many developin
Page 19 and 20: germplasm originating in their gene
Page 21 and 22: e subject to exclusive intellectual
Page 23 and 24: guide for countries attempting to i
Page 25 and 26: described in section 2.7. The lates
Page 27 and 28: Switzerland took an alternate posit
Page 29 and 30: enefit sharing; (ii) protection of
Page 31 and 32: 2.8 International Treaty on Plant G
Page 33 and 34: Drawing upon these and the highly r
Page 35 and 36: The current Draft ASEAN Agreement a
Page 37 and 38: The use of such bilateral trade pre
Page 39 and 40: A leaked version of the US FTA posi
Page 41 and 42: 3. GOVERNANCE IN THAILAND There are
Page 43 and 44: articles). The advocacy of groups s
Page 45 and 46: in some areas and stronger IPRs in
Page 47 and 48: is opposed to ex situ resources whi
Page 49 and 50: Licence Office. This has been sugge
Page 51 and 52: capita greenhouse gas polluters on
Page 53 and 54: Pennapa et al, 2001). It is claimed
Page 55: 3.4 Alleged Biopiracy Episodes and
Page 59 and 60: were then taken by a Portsmouth Uni
Page 61 and 62: A number of subsequent Thai patents
Page 63 and 64: Of the biopiracy cases discussed he
Page 65 and 66: that was investigated by WIPO and U
Page 67 and 68: 3.5 Legislation and Bureaucratic Mi
Page 69 and 70: There are several aspects of the Pa
Page 71 and 72: Table 5: Development and Operation
Page 73 and 74: • twenty percent is allocated to
Page 75 and 76: Chapters Seven and Eight essentiall
Page 77 and 78: Furthermore he notes that it is not
Page 79 and 80: esources. A Community Forest Manage
Page 81 and 82: There have been ongoing meetings at
Page 83 and 84: 3.8 The Role of Civil Society, NGOs
Page 85 and 86: 3.9 Summary: Participation, Impleme
Page 87 and 88: Box 4: Indigenous Peoples and Local
Page 89 and 90: 4.2 Traditional Knowledge and Local
Page 91 and 92: Box 5: Methods of Karen Pest and We
Page 93 and 94: Table 6: Description of Threats Aff
Page 95 and 96: Traditional Medicines of Baan Sopla
Page 97 and 98: Although a full ethno-botanic inves
Page 99 and 100: Baan Khun Khlang, Hmong Village, Kh
Page 101 and 102: Rather than applying customs and ri
Page 103 and 104: developing and many ‘Eastern’ c
Page 105 and 106: This section provides an explanatio
Page 107 and 108:
5. DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS The
Page 109 and 110:
PIC requirements should however be
Page 111 and 112:
Drahos, P. (2005) ‘Intellectual P
Page 113 and 114:
TK-FL Working Group (2005) A summar
Page 115 and 116:
IRRI, IRRI Welcomes Rice Research D
Page 117 and 118:
APPENDIX ONE Chronology of the Comm
Page 119 and 120:
It is recommended however that due
Page 121 and 122:
c. The PIC Coordinators are respons
Page 123 and 124:
. If the original source owners or
Page 125 and 126:
SECTION SIX - ABS-PIC FUND a. An
Page 127 and 128:
APPENDIX THREE - List of Relevant W
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