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This article provides information about the Traditional Communities and Indigenous Population are affected by Patent Law !
WTO and the developed countries argue that the compulsory imposition of TRIPs is with the aim of checking piracy and to give protection to innovative inventions. But many a times this can go against the interests of indigenous/laypersons’ common knowledge especially of the developing countries. In May 1995, US patent office granted a patent to the University of Mississippi Medical Centre for “turmeric”, for its wound healing capability.
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The implication of this is that if you are found using turmeric for wound healing without permission or payment It is an absurd situation for millions of Indians who have been using turmeric for centuries to even to imagine that one has to pay royalty for use of turmeric or to imagine that it is a new invention.
The patent was challenged by a watchful Indian scientist, Dr. RA. Mashelkar, who took up many issues related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and brought awareness on little realised dangers in the IPR regimes and World Trade Organisation (WTO) practices. After nearly four months of contesting the patent, it was established that the use of turmeric was well-known in India.
The patent was annulled but this was not the only traditional or indigenous knowledge and practice, which was nearly appropriated for commercial use and for profit. Mexican beans, South Asian basmati, Bolivian quinoa, Amazonian ayahuasca, West Africa’s sweet genes, among many others, all have been subject to intellectual property claims that are predatory on the knowledge and genetic resources of indigenous peoples and farming communities. Big multinational companies and pharmaceutical companies are constantly on the lookout to tap knowledge and products for commercial and profit making purposes.
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Patents, which are meant to protect the creative and innovative efforts, are being increasingly used to have exclusive rights on, what many times has been a common knowledge of a community or a tradition. Brazil which has the world’s richest bio-diversity has attracted many companies, and it is believed that more than half of the plant species in the rain forest of Brazil have been patented.
To be not able to use neem or turmeric, because it has been patented by a private company for commercial purposes, is truly illogical for those of us who are familiar with the use of neem or turmeric in our everyday life. The discovery of the healing properties of these two plant species cannot be attributed to any one single person, such that the person can apply for a patent.
It is a knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation and nobody has exclusive rights over this knowledge. To understand some of these questions and many more, it is essential to observe the issue of patents and indigenous knowledge within the backdrop of globalisation and the economic dimensions and implications of globalisation.