The Legal Protection Of Traditional Knowledge In The Pharmaceutical Field

Legal Protection for Traditional Knowledge calls attention to the vital contributions that aboriginal knowledge makes to global development and how the legal systems in place, particularly in India, must change to protect this knowledge.This book is a must-read for researchers in economics, development studies, and international law.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2006 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: A-, Victoria University of Wellington (Faculty of Law), 47 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Indigenous people often know a lot about the healing properties or other useful characteristics of their indigenous plants. This knowledge usually has been passed on within the indigenous community from generation to generation and is therefore regarded as traditional knowledge. This traditional knowledge is of great value for the pharmaceutical industry. Accordingly, it has been explored, used as the basis for subsequently patented in-ventions, and sometimes misappropriated by pharmaceutical companies from the "developed" world. This essay seeks to provide an overview of the problems and issues that arise where traditional knowl-edge meets the "Western" intellectual property regime. The questions that are sought to be answered are: Why should traditional knowledge be protected as intellectual property and how could this be done? Many approaches have been made, both on an international and a national level. Several of these solutions will be presented and discussed in this essay. It will be seen that already existing intellectual property rights are not suitable for the protection of traditional knowledge. Compared with this, the implementation of safeguards within patent applica-tion proceedings seems to be more appropriate and effective. However, this approach turns out to be not com-prehensive enough. Therefore, this essay recommends the protection of traditional knowledge by an intellectual property right sui generis, specially designed for that purpose. This solution is favourable because it is the most complete one, is able to address all issues in an appropriate way, and can strike a balance between the involved conflicting interests.

The protection of traditional knowledge and the practices of local and indigenous groups have been discussed in various forums in recent times. International agreements - such as the Convention on Biological Diversity - address the importance of protecting traditional knowledge and practices, recognizing that this knowledge bears immense value in terms of its contribution to the conservation of biological diversity and its inputs to research and development in various fields. Experiences of the past - for example, the use of the Neem tree and the Turmeric plant - show that the benefits of traditional knowledge applications are allocated mainly to the follow-on developers and rarely to the original suppliers of the knowledge and practices. In the long term, this may result in restricted access to traditional knowledge to the detriment of social welfare. This book examines traditional knowledge protection in the area of traditional medical knowledge, which is often utilized in contemporary medicine and, consequently, is subject to patent protection. The book provides a comparative view of the current patent regimes in major economies - specifically the US and the EU - and the consequences of the application of these laws to traditional medical knowledge and follow-on innovation, as well as the impact on underlying economic principles and opposing interests. The economic analysis of law is used to evaluate the current situation by comparing the effects of adapted patent regimes to alternative liability regimes or contractual agreements. This comparative and interdisciplinary approach gives valuable insights and inputs for future discussion.

This Brief introduces different options on intellectual property protection of traditional medical knowledge.

Traditional knowledge is largely oral collective of knowledge, beliefs, and practices of indigenous people on sustainable use and management of resources. The survival of this knowledge is at risk due to various difficulties faced by the holders of this knowledge, the threat to the cultural survival of many communities, and the international lack of respect and appreciation of traditional knowledge. However, the greatest threat is that of appropriation by commercial entities in derogation of the rights of the original holders. Though this practice is morally questionable, in the absence of specific legal provisions, it cannot be regarded as a crime. Intellectual Property Rights and the Protection of Traditional Knowledge is a collection of innovative research on methods for protecting indigenous knowledge including studies on intellectual property rights and sovereignty rights. It also analyzes the contrasting interests of developing and developed countries in the protection of traditional knowledge as an asset. While highlighting topics including biopiracy, dispute resolution, and patent law, this book is ideally designed for legal experts, students, industry professionals, and practitioners seeking current research on the development and enforcement of intellectual property rights in relation to traditional knowledge.

General information on the interface between intellectual property (IP) and traditional knowledge (TK), traditional cultural expressions (TCEs), and genetic resources (GRs). It briefly addresses the most important questions that arise when considering the role that IP principles and systems can play in protecting TK and TCEs from misappropriation, and in generating and equitably sharing benefits from their commercialization, and the role of IP in access to and benefit sharing in GRs.