THE INTERSECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE WITH INDIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Abstract

The Article brings to the legal discourse the rights in traditional knowledge; how do we define traditional knowledge and who do we deem the ownership of such knowledge, the Government or the indigenous communities that have developed, curated and refined this knowledge through years of dedication towards their art and discipline and how does law protects the rights of communities and the traditional knowledge itself from exploitation. When we look at the Intellectual Property Rights and their framework in this country, does it strive to provide exploitative and enrichment rights to these communities or the system set up as of yet simply pushes back any individual from achieving exploitative rights by recognizing traditional knowledge as public wealth. This phenomenon of the loss of the rights of indigenous rights over their own cultural knowledge and practices, is the one which is being witnessed all over the world and now that the economy is stepping towards a global market, loss of one community is being felt by the fabric of all the indigenous communities. However, with the objective to bring to light the invisible hands that have birthed the traditional and indigenous knowledge, several steps are being taken by policy and law makers, to ensure that such communities are no longer vulnerable to bio-piracy, cultural misappropriation or economic exploitation. These movements are spearheaded by activist and organizations who have always celebrated the indigenous communities and their rights over their own cultural knowledge and this is being done by bringing.