Pakistan Wins Basmati Trademark Case as Australian Court Rejects India’s Appeal
Islamabad is celebrating a significant legal triumph in Pakistan on the trade front, with the Federal Court of Australia rejecting an appeal by India in its quest to claim a monopoly over its name “Basmati”. The Australian court had refused to hear the appeal filed by India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and directed the Indian organisation to foot legal costs of the other party to the appeal.
The decision is in line with an earlier ruling in 2022 made by the Australian Registrar of Trade Marks, who had rejected India’s application to protect Basmati as an exclusive trademark. On their part, the authorities of Australia officially acknowledged that Basmati also grows in Pakistan and Pakistani traders and exporters have the right to use the name. The ministry of commerce said the verdict upholds the country’s principled stance and its historical and geographical rights to produce Basmati.
The officials stressed that the historical area of cultivation of Basmati is shared between the Pakistan and Indian territories, thus no country is entitled to have a monopoly over the Basmati cultivation.This legal victory will protect the rights of Pakistani farmers, millers and exporters to continue to sell their authentic Pakistani Basmati without the imposition of restrictions in the Australian market.