Trouble brews between HUL, Tata over tea process patent
14 Jun 2007
Mumbai: Tata Tea, the world''s second largest tea maker, has sued Hindustan Unilever, India''s biggest fast moving consumer goods firm, over a patent granted by the Indian government for the process of making instant tea from cold water.
HUL says its parent company, Unilever, already owns the invention and has already patented it in Europe and the United States. The patent was granted to HUL by the Indian government in 1997.
Tata Tea has filed an appeal challenging the patent to the Bombay High Court which referred the petition to the Appellate Tribunal of the Indian Patents Office last week.
Tata
Tea''s contention is that the process of making tea has
been known to Indians for centuries and is not an invention
and cannot be patented in India where consumption is the
highest in the world. Tata Tea has sued the Anglo-Dutch
company on two counts: the process itself and on the instant
tea product made from cold water.
