The USA is claiming patent for spices like turmeric and neem which have been our proud tradition from times immemorial. Unfortunately, we are aping the West in many ways- clothing, eating and what not!
In a letter to the editor of a national newspaper in about 150 words, share your concern and suggest ways to redeem our lost prestige and glory.
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Answers
Introduction
Traditional Knowledge (TK) is a living body of knowledge that is developed, sustained and passed on from generation to generation within a community, often forming part of its cultural or spiritual identity1. Traditional Knowledge per se that is the knowledge that has ancient roots and is often informal and oral, is not protected by conventional intellectual property protection systems. This scenario has prompted many developing countries to develop their own specific and special systems for protecting traditional knowledge. India has played a very significant role in the documentation of traditional knowledge thereby bringing the protection of traditional knowledge at the centre stage of the International Intellectual Property System. Provision of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) Access (Non-Disclosure) Agreements with several international patent office's including USPTO, EPO, JPO etc. by Indian Government has led to many patent applications concerning India's traditional knowledge have either been cancelled or withdrawn or claims have been amended in several international patent offices2.
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
TKDL is a pioneer initiative of the Indian Government, and came to the fore due to the
India's efforts on revocation of patent on wound healing properties of turmeric at the USPTO and the patent granted by the European Patent Office(EPO) on the antifungal properties of neem. India's traditional medicinal knowledge exists in local languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Arabic, Urdu, Tamil etc. is neither accessible nor comprehensible for patent examiners at the international patent offices. It was identified by the TKDL expert group in 2005 that annually around 2000 patents were granted around the world erroneously concerning Indian system of medicine by patent offices around the world. TKDL provides contents of the ancient texts on Indian Systems of Medicines i.e. Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Yoga, into five international languages, namely, English, Japanese, French, German and Spanish, with the help of information technology tools and an innovative classification system - Traditional Knowledge Resource Classification (TKRC) Bio-piracy and Misappropriation of TK.
The use of intellectual property systems to legitimize the exclusive ownership and control over biological resources and biological products and processes that have been used over centuries in non-industrialized culture can be defined as "bio-piracy". In other words bio-piracy means misappropriation of traditional knowledge with an intention to gain patent protection over that knowledge. Devolution, encroachment, the bio prospecting rush, lack of appropriate legal systems and a clash of systems all make traditional knowledge highly vulnerable to bio-piracy. Traditional knowledge is associated with biological resources which in turn is a component of biodiversity. The clues/ leads provided by TK can be utilized to develop best practices/processes/ system for mankind without the investment of huge amount of money for research and results validation through clinical trials in labs, above all such knowledge saves time. In the recent past, several cases of bio-piracy of TK from India have been reported. The following are the most prominent cases with regards to misappropriation of TK from India.
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