Cereal Wars: Ethiopia fights to recover the intellectual property rights of its former "supergrain" teff

Teff is a grain that goes back to Ethiopian cuisine. Its flour is used to produce injera, a spongy flatbread serving as a base for serving vegetables and meat. It would take European and American scientists until the 1990s to study and conclude that the teff is a super grain

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Since 2000, teff flour and its food products (bread, pancakes, cakes, etc …), according to the European Patent Institute, was "created" by a Dutchman named Jans Roosjen, director of Health and Performance Food International. According to Nexo Jornal, the company holds exclusive intellectual property rights over the sale of teff and its by-products in Germany and other European countries.

The Norwegian research firm Instituto Fridtjof Nansens reported in 2012 that due to a number of circumstances, Ethiopia has had fewer opportunities than ever to generate and share the benefits of using resources genetic teff thanks to the Dutch company, which has since gone bankrupt.

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The Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office, a government cabinet dealing with intellectual property issues, does not take the matter lightly.

In May, the government announced a series of legal and diplomatic actions to regain control of the grain. by-products so relevant to Ethiopian gastronomy. Now the Attorney General of Ethiopia will file suit against the company at the International Court of Arbitration

Read the full article, original: Ethiopia vs. Europe: the intellectual property of An ancient grain, Teff