# Australia court rejects Indian appeal for Basmati rice trademark 2026-08-18T00:06:30+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Federal Court of Australia has dismissed an appeal by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) seeking certification trademark registration for the single-word mark "Basmati rice." Justice Dowling J ruled the mark is not capable of distinguishing goods certified by APEDA from non-certified goods under Section 177(2) of Australia's Trade Marks Act 1995. The Trade Marks Office had originally rejected APEDA's application in January 2023 on the grounds that Basmati rice is "not grown only in India." The National Library of Australia also produced evidence that publications in Australia refer to Pakistan as the place of origin of Basmati rice. Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce welcomed the dismissal. GI expert S Chandrasekaran said New World countries like Australia have geographical indications (GIs) only for wines and lack legislation for India's needs. He argued India should move the WTO for full implementation of TRIPS Section 3. India's application for Basmati GI status in the EU has been pending since July 2018. APEDA has been ordered to pay costs incurred by the Australian Registrar of Trademarks. ## Coverage - thehindubusinessline.com This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: APEDA, Basmati rice, Federal Court of Australia, Pakistan, WTO Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/australia-court-rejects-indian-appeal-for-basmati-rice-trademark/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/australia-court-rejects-indian-appeal-for-basmati-rice-trademark/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/