Ridiculous Patent: Rice

Yesterday, India and Pakistan thumbed their noses at the worldwide Intellectual Property Regime, agreeing to jointly patent basmati rice (India has a recent history of not bowing to external pressure to let the rest of the world walk all over it with dubious patent monopolies).

A U.S. firm had patented three varieties of long-grain Basmati rice in 1997, and sold rice under its brandnames, but the issue has irked South Asian farmers.