The above firm is now claiming that anyone covering rubbish with hessian cloth would have to pay it a royalty of 65 per cent of the cost of hessian in the UK.

An UK firm, operating a landfill site (refuse tip) and making use of hessian cloth to cover the rubbish on the site at the end of each day was the latest in line which was billed by Geohess.

Though a number of firms, who have not attempted to investigate the validity of the patent were paying the above charge, the above firm (name not disclosed) has challenged its validity after being billed by Geohess for payment of royalty.

The firm challenged the entire claim of Geohess in a court of law in the UK. Through its attorneys, Dummett Copp, patent attorneys, UK, the affected firm has been able to establish that other people were using various synthetic fabric covers for landfill sites before the date of the patent, but the patent-holders are claiming that the idea of using hessian for this purpose is inventive and therefore patentable.

The matter came to light in India recently when Dummett Copp, on behalf of the affected firm, approached Hastings Jute Mill after locating its name on website to get inputs to establish that the idea of using hessian for landfill sites was not inventive and therefore was not patentable.

Stung by the development and anticipating depletion of demand of Indian hessian products, Hastings Jute Mill director and also chairman of Indian Jute Mills' Association (IJMA) Sanjay Kajaria quickly came into action and contacted other jute promotion bodies such as Jute and Mineral Development Corporation (JMDC) and Indian Jute Mill Research Association (IJRA) in this connection.

Kajaria said, this is wrong. Hessian was used for covering various things, including dumps since a long period. It is nothing new. I will help Dummett Copp in whatever way I can.

If we do not chalk out strategies now, tomorrow one can patent the use of potato sacking bags, wheat bags and any other thing where jute is being used. Ultimately Indian jute manufacturers would be the losers, he added.

Jute is approximately 100 years old industry and as it is a natural fibre and comes cheap, its fabrics are being used for various purposes over the period, Kajaria said and added, we have to save the market. Otherwise the use of jute will decline as consumers might not pay a price in which royalty is also included. Why should one pay 10 to 15 per cent extra for the same thing?