The Ethiopian government is celebrating a major victory in a long-running dispute over who owns the patent for products made from teff - an ancient grain that forms the basis of Ethiopia’s staple food, injera. In 2003, a Dutch company registered a European patent for teff-related products, claiming that these were “invented” by a certain Jans Roosjen, a senior company official. This November, a Dutch court ruled that the patent contained no ‘inventiveness’, and was therefore null and void. “I just learned that The Court of The Hague ruled against the #Teff patent holder. This would not be the first time that a western company has tried to patent or copyright an existing African product.

Source: Ethiopian News February 06, 2019 11:03 UTC