Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Piracy of old Indian knowledge rising by Rashme Sehgal

Piracy of old Indian knowledge rising by Rashme Sehgal

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Jan 4, 2010   modified Modified on Jan 4, 2010

Biopiracy in the field of medicine is on the rise with Europe and the US being granted 2,000 patents every year for drugs based on Indian traditional systems of medicine. These patents are being granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTP), the European Patent Office (EPO) and other overseas patent offices.

This startling claim was made by forests and environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday. It is to reverse this trend that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) set up the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), which has already documented two lakh formulations of the Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Yoga schools in Sanskrit, Persian, Tamil and Urdu.

India is in the process of signing agreements with other patent offices whereby they can access their TKDL to prevent biopiracy. The minister revealed that an agreement has been signed with the EPO in February 2009. More recently, an agreement was signed between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama in November 2009. Agreements with other nations are in the process of being negotiated.

Mr Ramesh highlighted that using the TKDL, 36 cases have been identified in the EPO alone from which eight patents have been decided in India’s favour. Another 40 cases are currently being fought in the USPTO.

Biopiracy is emerging as the new battleground between rich and poor countries with rich nations opposing a legal framework for access to legal resources, the minister said. India and other developing nations are pushing for a protocol on access and benefit sharing since this "will provide an opportunity to biodiversity-rich countries such as India to realise benefits for its people from the use of biodiversity", the minister said.

Industrialised nations are opposing this move and there is little chance of the protocol being finalised by the next summit of the Convention on Biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan, this October.

Cases of biopiracy came to the forefront with the neem and haldi cases in which patents were granted to foreign companies. The patent on haldi (turmeric), the minister highlighted, was challenge by the CSIR and subsequently upheld by the USPTO, which was forced to revoke the patent. "This was the first time that a patent based on the traditional knowledge of a developing country was successfully challenged. The patent on neem was also revoked by the EPO in 2000 in the face of legal opposition filed by an Indian NGO and a group of Indian farmers," he explained.

The earlier litigation spanned 10 years and involved huge legal costs. In contrast, the EPO has been able to settle cases in India’s favour at no cost, and within two to 10 weeks through the TKDL route, the minister said.

"An important next step is to set up a people’s register of biodiversity" so that the oral tradition of communicating knowledge can also be documented and protected. "The biodiversity register by which the documentation of oral knowledge takes place is already functioning in Kerala and Karnataka," he added.

India has taken a leadership position in the field of biodiversity conservation, especially since it is one of the few countries to have enacted the Biological Diversity Act of 2002, which contains provision on access and benefit sharing apart from having added three million hectares in forest cover during the last 10 years.


The Asian Age, 5 January, 2010, http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/top-story/piracy-of-old-indian-knowledge-rising.aspx
 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close