Australia rejects India’s Basmati trademark bid

Dawn reported that the Federal Court of Australia has rejected an appeal lodged by India's Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, known as APEDA, in the Basmati trademark dispute. The ruling backs Pakistan's long-held view that Basmati qualifies as a geographical indication. An official statement from Islamabad said the commerce ministry welcomed the decision, and the court ordered APEDA to cover the respondent's costs.

The trademark bid began with an APEDA application to register the term Basmati as a certification mark for rice in Australia. A delegate of the Australian Registrar of Trade Marks rejected that application on Dec 22, 2022, reasoning that the word could not tell APEDA-certified rice apart from Basmati rice sold by other traders. APEDA then took the matter to the Federal Court, which has now upheld the registrar's findings.

The registrar had also acknowledged that Basmati is grown in Pakistan and that Pakistani traders hold a comparably valid right to use the name. According to the report, the outcome strengthens the argument that the growing region spans both countries and that no single national body holds exclusive rights to the word.