PAKISTAN TO COMPLAIN

Pakistan has decided to lodge a formal complaint with the United States Patents Office against a patent given to a US firm, RiceTec Inc. on a premium rice brandoriginating in the Indian sub-continent.According to the commerce secretary, M Iqbal Farced, a verbal complaint has alreadybeen lodged for using the name Basmati against the Texas-based firm. Pakistan wanted to fight the case with India either at World Trade Organisationlevel or in a US court. But because India claimed that Basmati was Indian, Pakistan decided to protest on its own.