A weavers’ organisation in Orissa has filed for a patent on a wall hanging designed with a new textile weaving technology invented by one of its members.Sambalpuri Bastralaya Handloom Cooperative Society filed the patent at the Kolkata patent office on the textile, which a weaver makes using a tie-and-dye method but without warp. 

At least four designs of the wall hangings made using this new technology have already been registered under the Designs Act 2000. Sambalpuri Bastralaya in Bargarh town is one of India’s biggest weavers’ cooperative with more than 16,000 members. The members are mostly engaged in the making of Sambalpuri cloth -- traditionally hand woven cloth wherein the warp and the weft are tie-dyed before weaving.The patent has been filed since manufacturers outside Orissa blatantly copy the patterns and market their products as original traditional Sambalpuri textiles.