Protecting India's Traditional Knowledge

• Author: V.K. Gupta
• Position: The author and architect of India's TKDL
• Pages: 5-8

The signicance of tradi-

tional knowledge

Traditional knowledge (TK) is integral to the identity of

most local communities. It is a key constituent of a com-

munity’s social and physical environment and, as such,

its preservation is of paramount importance. Attempts

to exploit TK for industrial or commercial benet can

lead to its misappropriation and can prejudice the inter-

ests of its rightful custodians. In the face of such risks,

there is a need to develop ways and means to protect

and nurture TK for sustainable development in line with

the interests of TK holders. The preservation, protection

and promotion of the TK-based innovations and prac-

tices of local communities are particularly important

for developing countries. Their rich endowment of TK

and biodiversity plays a critical role in their health care,

food se curity, culture, religion, identity, environment,

trade and development. Yet, this valuable asset is under

threat in many parts of the world.

There are concerns that this knowledge is being used

and patented by third parties without the prior informed

consent of TK holders and that few, if any, of the derived

benets are shared with the communities in which this

knowledge originated and exists. Such concerns have

pushed TK to the forefront of the international agenda,

triggering lively debate about ways to preserve, protect,

further develop and sustainably use TK. Documenting

and digitizing T K-related information in the form of a

TKDL is proving to be an eective means of preserving

TK and of preventing its misappropriation by third par-

ties. India is a pioneer in this eld.

How it all began

India’s TK DL, a co llabora tive projec t be tween the

Council of Scientic and Industrial Research (CSIR), and

the Department of AYUSH3, is a home-grown eort to

ensure patent oces around the world do not grant

patents for applications founded on India’s wealth of

age-old TK . The idea to establish a TKDL came to the

fore amid India’s eorts to revoke the patent granted by

the United States Patent and Trademark Oce (USPTO)

on the wound healing properties of turmeric, and the

patent granted by the European Patent Oce (EPO) on

the antifungal properties o f neem. T hese endeavors,

while successful, proved extremely costly an d time-

consuming.

Around the time the TKDL was established in 2001, the

TKDL expert group estimated that, annually, some 2,000

patents relating to Indian medicinal systems were being

erroneously granted by patent oces around the world.

For a patent to be granted, an applicant must satisfy cer-

tain criteria as dened by national patent law, in particu-

lar, an applicant must prove that a claimed invention is

novel and not previously known. Why then had patents

been granted for so many applications relating to Indian

medicinal systems? When patent examiners assessed

these applications for patentability, the claimed inven-

tions did not feature in the prior art searches carr ied

out. They were, therefore, deemed patentable. At that

time, h owever, much o f India’s t raditional me dicinal

knowledge only existed in Sanskrit, Hindi, Arabic, Urdu

and Tamil. These languages were neither accessible to

nor under stood by p atent examiners wor king in th e

major patent offices to which the applications had

been submitted.

The fact that so many patents had been wron gfully

granted in the U.S. and Europe caused a great deal of

national distress. The people of India felt that knowl-

edge belonging to India was wrongfully being taken

away from them. On top of this, these “wrong” patents

ProtectinG

india’s traditional

KnowledGe

>>>

1. Prior ar t constitutes

all infor mation

made avai lable to

the publi c in any

form befo re a given

date that might be

relevant to a patent’ s

claim of novelty and

inventivene ss. If an

invention has been

described in prior

art, a p atent on tha t

invention is not vali d.

2. Dr. V. K. Gupta is Senior

Advisor & Director of

TKDL at the Indian

Council o f Scientic

and Indus trial Research

(CSIR), I ndia’s largest

state-owned research

body.

3. In 2003, the

Department of

Indian Sy stems

of Medici ne and

Homeopathy (ISM&H)

created i n March

1995 was renamed

the Depar tment

of Ayurve da, Yoga

& Naturop athy,

Unani, Si ddha and

Homeopathy (AYUSH).

5

In just under two years, in Europe alone, India has succeeded in bringing about the cancellation or withdrawal

of 36 applications to patent traditionally known medicinal formulations. The key to this success has been its

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a database containing 34 million pages of formatted information

on some 2,260,000 medicinal formulations in multiple languages. Designed as a tool to assist patent examiners

of major intellectual property (IP) oces in carrying out prior art

1

searches, the TKDL is a unique repository of

India’s traditional medical wisdom. It bridges the linguistic gap between traditional knowledge expressed in

languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Tamil, and those used by patent examiners of major IP

oces. India’s TKDL is proving a powerful weapon in the country’s ght against erroneous patents, sometimes

referred to as “biopiracy”. In this article, Dr. V.K. Gupta

2

, the author and architect of India’s TKDL, explains the

critical role that this unique tool plays in protecting India’s traditional knowledge.