Kuala Lumpur, June 1 (PTI): Malaysia has granted trademark rights of a popular non-basmati rice variety grown in south India to a local trading firm, a step reminiscent of the US issuing a patent on basmati to Ricetec in 1997.

Syarikat Faiza Sdn Bhd, which imports Sona Masoori Ponni rice from India, registered the variety under the Malaysian trademark act and sent legal notices to other importers asking them not to use the word “ponni” to describe their product.

One of the aggrieved importers has challenged the trademark given to Faiza and the trademark department has assured that it would cancel the registration, which, however, is yet to happen.

“You cannot register the variety ponni, it is like registering basmati. Ponni belongs to India and it cannot be registered in Malaysia,” Rajasekaran Thiyagarajan, a lawyer representing a Malaysian firm that has been told by Faiza not to use “ponni” on its rice imports, said.

Ponni is a derivative of cross between Taichung65 and Myang Ebos 6080/2 varieties. A pure line selection named white ponni was released by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in 1986.

The trademark for ponni rice could not be issued since it denoted a variety of paddy released by the agricultural university and produced by many farmers in south India for over two decades, said the university’s professor, N. Raveendaran, in a letter to the lawyer.

“If the ponni variety is registered in this country, then it can be registered worldwide,” Rajasekaran said, adding “India should be more vigilant on such issues.”

On May 15, India empowered its agriculture export promotion agency to protect indigenous farm and horticulture products from being patented abroad.