In recent times, IP rights have been the single important determinant of the changed trend in global trade relationships between nations. With globalization of culture, trade and communication, the patent system associated with a wealth of technological information has become an important resource for technological development, an aid in technology transfer and, thus, a significant…
Biopiracy of Indian TK was possible because the information regarding the prior existing knowledge of the products was not available to patent examiners. Though large part of our traditional medical knowledge has been meticulously documented in several Indian languages, these are not accessible to patent offices. Also, TK available orally as folk knowledge is not…
This Indian legislation acknowledges that the conservation, exploration, collection, characterization and evaluation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture are essential to meet the goals of national food and nutritional security, as also for the sustainable development of agriculture for the present and future generations. The concept of effective benefit sharing arrangement between the…
Many developing countries are attempting to promote legislations to protect BD and TK. The Indian Biodiversity Act, 2002 It focuses on the rights of the state and monopoly IP rights such as patents. The implication is that most property rights will be in the hands of the state and private companies. The Act addresses basic…
It is well known that indigenous and local communities depend on TK for their livelihood as well as to sustainably manage and exploit their ecosystem. The WHO estimates that up to 80 per cent of the world population relies on traditional medicine for primary health care. Thus, on one hand, organizations such as Food and Agriculture…
Lack of IP protection and the huge cost of infringement suits are not conducive to research on traditional herbal drugs. There is little financial incentive to explore traditional medical claims of herbal drugs for therapeutic efficacy. Current scientific drug discovery research is based on “single molecule–single receptor–single activity” approach of activity screening. Such methods of…
US patent on turmeric US patent number 540504 on “the use of turmeric in wound healing” was granted to two scientists of University of Mississippi Medical Center. This was challenged by CSIR, India that requested the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to re-examine the patent as turmeric has been used for thousands of years…
While TRIPS enshrines the rights of inventors and creators, instead of protecting TK, the current IP regime has facilitated its commercialization by individuals or entities, completely leaving out the original holders of the knowledge out of the loop of benefit sharing. Many patents have been granted in the US and UK to foreign bioprospectors on…
Though TK represents collective IP of communities or indigenous groups, with all its seemingly equitable and just objectives, TRIPS agreement does not include TK for IP protection. Prime reasons quoted for this glaring omission are the following: On the contrary, not all categories under TRIPS protection are acts of individual creation. Trade secrets refer to…
TK on Herbal Drugs TK refers to the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities around the world, developed from the experience gained over the centuries and adopted as per the local culture and environment. TK, especially in well-established civilizations such as India, is the collective result of careful observation, understanding and experimentation…