Pakistan’s commerce ministry on Wednesday praised the Federal Court of Australia’s decision to dismiss an appeal filed by India in which it had sought to register the word “Basmati” as a certification trademark for selling rice in Australia.
India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) had applied to register the word Basmati as a certification trademark for rice in Australia. The application was rejected by a Delegate of the Australian Registrar of Trademarks on Dec.22, 2022 on the grounds that the word “Basmati” could not distinguish rice certified by APEDA from Basmati rice legitimately produced and marketed by other countries, the commerce ministry said.
APEDA had subsequently challenged the rejection before the Federal Court of Australia.
“The registrar’s decision expressly recognized that Basmati rice is also grown in Pakistan and that Pakistani traders have an equally valid claim to use the term,” the Pakistani commerce ministry said in a statement.
“By dismissing APEDA’s appeal, the Federal Court has upheld these findings.”
The Pakistani ministry said the court’s ruling has also ordered APEDA to pay the respondent’s costs, as agreed or taxed. It added that the decision vindicates Pakistan’s principled position regarding Basmati as a geographical indication.
Basmati is a distinctive, long-grain rice that grown in India and Pakistan. Both nuclear-armed neighbors, who have fought three wars since 1947 and briefly engaged in a military confrontation in May 2025, are constantly at loggerheads over various political issues worldwide.
Both countries are major rice exporters and compete to sell the product at the international stage to the same buyers worldwide. Basmati rice is a staple diet in South Asia, used in popular rice dishes such as biryani, pulao, zarda and tehari.
The commerce ministry said the court’s ruling constitutes a significant victory for Pakistan’s position that Basmati originates from a historically recognized growing region spanning areas of Pakistan and India.
“And that no single national authority can claim an exclusive right over the word Basmati to the exclusion of producers and exporters having an equally legitimate right to its use,” the ministry said.
