FIJIAN SHEEP DENIED TRAVEL PRIVILEGES
Posted by Douglas Sorocco, June 9, 2004 at 4:58 pm
For some reason I found this extremely humorous: from the Fiji Times Online, a herd of Fijian sheep called "Fiji Fantastic" has been detained from traveling to Samoa because of potential patenting issues.
Animal health and production division director Doctor Joeli Vakabua said that to export such a commodity would mean transferring material and technology. "We were ready to export the sheep to Samoa but the lawyers and the intellectual property rights people have come out convincingly saying we need to patent this product," Dr Vakabua said.
Apparently the sheep have been bred to live and thrive in the tropical environment and are wanted by the Samoan government for breeding with their own sheep. A Samoa agriculture ministry official, Laumata Pelesa, was quoted in April, 2004 as saying the whole of Samoa had been waiting for this shipment from Fiji to start a local herd.
Unfortunately, the Samoans will have to wait until Fiji sorts out the potential patenting "issues" and, yes, Fiji does grant patents.