Adding another layer of spice to the Basmati rice IP dispute between India and Pakistan, recently the Delhi High Court dismissed the 15 years old suit (pdf) against the export of Basmati rice by India, for non-prosecution from the plaintiff since 2020.
As a quick background, this suit was filed seeking an injunction against the Govt. of India’s notification permitting export of “evolved” Basmati Rice under the mark “Super Basmati”. The suit was filed by Trading Corporation of Pakistan Pvt. Ltd., along with Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan and Basmati Growers Association alleging passing off, dilution, and infringement of their transborder reputation by Govt. of India’s allowance to use the trade name “Super Basmati” for rice exported from India.
The dispute may seem separate from the longstanding India-Pakistan Basmati GI dispute, but it is (or rather was) very much ingrained into the above controversy. The plaintiffs here were aggrieved by the Government of India’s notification dated May 24, 2006 that declared Super Basmati as an approved evolved Basmati rice under the Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963 for export.
Important Definitions
The term “evolved variety” has been defined under the Export of Basmati Rice (Quality Control and Inspection) Rules 2003 as “a variety whose one of two parent is a traditional variety and which has been recognised as a Basmati variety under any law for the time being in force”. And “traditional variety” has been defined as “land races or varieties of rice of uniform shape size and colour traditionally recognised as Basmati”. Explanation 1 and 2 list out Basmati and traditional Basmati Rice and via the 2006 notification “Super Basmati” was added to these rules as “evolved variety”. Super Basmati has been explained as a “variety that is about 113 cm tall and is weakly photo period sensitive. It performs best under medium fertility conditions. It possesses extra long, super fine grains with excellent cooking quality and strong aroma. The cooked rice is non-sticky and soft to eat. It matures in about 145 days after seeding. Its average yield is 14 quintal of paddy per acre.” And interested readers can refer to this reading to know how it is different from other varieties of Basmati.
The order also notes the GI status of Basmati rice, registered in the favor of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) (who was also a defendant in the present matter). However, it is interesting to see that the list of approved varieties of Basmati Rice in APEDA’s website does not specify Super Basmati as a variety.
Okay so with India’s stake clear now, why did Pakistan file this suit? One of the reasons could be because of the importance of Super Basmati’s export to the world. As per this old 2005 case study by Amir Muhammed and Wajid H. Pirzada, in the context of EU Pakistan has been exporting Basmati rice worth 531 millon USD, 80 percent of which was Super Basmati variety. EU’s role is especially important considering that India and Pakistan are involved in a heated GI dispute in the EU over Basmati rice.