Original news and analysis on international IP policy
We should be careful in creating registrable rights on the traditional knowledge (TK) including traditional medicine practices and classifying TK under intellectual property rights, which are private exclusive rights operating like a monopoly in practice. Patents create private spaces in the knowledge arena (though for a short duration), and therefore no private appropriation should be allowed in the realm of TK, writes R.S. Praveen Raj.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - A project to assess the impact of climate change on KhoiSan communities and the production of local level decision-making in rural communities is expected to contribute towards the guidelines and protections for indigenous knowledge holders under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), according to the project leader.
From The Hindu: Even as the government has initiated the process of vetting a draft Bill on the protection and management of traditional knowledge (TK), experts caution against creating monopoly rights on TK and classifying it under intellectual property rights.
Indigenous Peoples' knowledge and creativity is a valuable source of inspiration for all, but might benefit from being better protected, the head of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization said this month. WIPO is currently negotiating an international instrument or instruments to better protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions (folklore).
India can play a leadership role to inspire developing countries in environmental policy-making, according to a new paper. Using its experience, India should further enhance South-South cooperation through an action plan including the establishment of a cooperation platform focussing on issues such as climate change, traditional knowledge, innovation, and intellectual property rights.
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The UN World Intellectual Property Organization is a member-driven agency set up to protect IP rights worldwide. In recent years, an area of dissension and debate has been how to make the organisation – and IPRs - friendlier to developing countries. This year, however, it has become a hotspot for the global debate between developed countries over protection of geographical indications, products of distinctive character deriving from specific locations.
The World Intellectual Property Organization Program and Budget Committee (PBC) is meeting this week with a full agenda of issues relating to planning for the next biennium as well as management matters.
KAMPALA, UGANDA -- Member states of African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) have adopted a protocol for the protection of new varieties of plants. The measure is aimed at modernising African agricultural practices, but some say it comes at the expense of age-old traditional farming practices, such as saving and re-using seed.
The Washington Post reports: The Washington Redskins - an American football team - lost their biggest legal and public relations battle yet in the war over their name after a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the NFL team’s federal trademark registrations, opposed for decades by Native American activists who call the moniker disparaging.
In the quest to find solutions to protect traditional knowledge and genetic resources from misappropriation, some countries have resorted to private databases to be used by patent examiners. Indigenous peoples are wary of the process primarily because they are not sure their knowledge will remain safe in those databases. Speakers at a World Intellectual Property Organization this week discussed the pros and cons of such defensive protection.
The issue of genetic resources or traditional knowledge that are shared among different countries was discussed at a World Intellectual Property Organization seminar this week. Panellists presented national and regional efforts to protect such resources.