[Commons-Law] Traditional Knowledge: Intellectual Property to be Protected?

[Hasit seth]

[January 19, 2006] 	

Traditional Knowledge: Intellectual Property to be Protected?

(Comtex Global News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)WASHINGTON, Jan 19,
2006 (U.S. Newswire via COMTEX) --In advance of next week's Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Spain, the Institute for Policy
Innovation (IPI) hosted a policy luncheon yesterday to explore some
the issues at stake in the debate over "traditional knowledge."


Event host Dr. Merrill Matthews, resident scholar at IPI, opened the
conference by noting that traditional knowledge (TK) "raises new
questions about what is and isn't intellectual property."

Doug Neumann, senior conservation officer with the U.S. State
Department, explained that the U.S. is against patent disclosure (i.e.
requiring patent applicants to disclose the origin of genetic
resources in inventions) in part because it affects product
development.

"The big question is how we get any sort of TK protective systems and
IPR (intellectual property rights) systems to work in harmony so that
they minimize any grey areas," Neumann said. "We believe (the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)) has the technical expertise
to look at these issues rather than the CBD, which is more
environmentally focused."

Presenting the NGO perspective, David Waskow, international program
director for Friends of the Earth, pointed out, "There are many folks
who would agree with (the US') view. Where they would differ with the
US in practice is that the U.S. has often pressed in trade agreements
for countries to adopt certain kinds of intellectual property
protection in ways that limit the ability of those national
governments to in fact put the kinds of protections they would like to
see in place."

"Dr. Ananda Chakrabarty, professor at the University of Illinois
College of Medicine and born in India, pointed out that the success of
India's recent economic growth is tied to its product patents. "Now
that India has signed the TRIPPS agreement...there is a great
opportunity for countries like India -- (including) China, Brazil and
other developing countries -- to accept the fact that the future looks
good. They will be able to generate new products to bring to the world
market."

The conference did not seek to resolve all of the issues raised by
traditional knowledge and intellectual property, but it did set the
stage for future dialogue.

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The Institute for Policy Innovation is an independent think tank based
out of Dallas, Texas.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Sonia Blumstein of the Institute for Policy Innovation,
202-213-0379 or soniab at ipi.org,
Web: http://www.IPI.org