Author: Nashra Fatima, Student at Bennett University, BA-LLB, 2018-23
ABSTRACT
The below article provides an insight on how the Traditional knowledge had been dealt in India. It starts with the meaning of Traditional knowledge and why there is always a debate around this issue. After the brief discussion in this topic, the second chapter helps us realise that traditional knowledge has a capacity to be commercialised and monetised on a large scale. The fact that it holds such capacity is the reason why various companies or individual people try to get patents on such knowledge, apart from recognition or fame.
The article then, in the third chapter, points out the important litigation that have taken place in traditional knowledge in India. The author here tries to put forth how there is a clear need of laws surrounding traditional knowledge. About the laws, the author in the next chapter points out how there isn’t any specific legislation that could govern traditional knowledge, however in India, there are several other legislations that surrounds the discussion of traditional knowledge and governs them in some way or the other (although in a very restrictive manner).
So, in short, all the above chapters broadly deal with the issues, litigation, protection and need for a legislation for traditional knowledge, and all the discussions surrounding the same has been happening for a long time.so, apart from this all, a new change, with respect to traditional knowledge, has been taking place in India and this change has come through the ‘Parliamentary standing committee report on Intellectual property Regime in India’. So, the fourth chapter of this article discusses the main points and criticisms of this committee report. Lastly, this article then concludes by summarising all the major points of the chapters of the articles.
