Texto: Anirudh
Chaudhary
Posted December
13, 2011
In India it
again boils down to soil. Post independence, India is again
embroiled in a battle of its own kind to secure something that belongs to the
country but is controlled by foreigners – The traditional knowledge. The
knowledge to use all things natural, which has been passed over generations, is
now threatened by Bio-Piracy.
Bio-Piracy
refers to the use of intellectual property systems to legitimize the exclusive
ownership and control over biological resources, products and processes that
have been used over centuries in non-industrialized culture. This
exclusive ownership can be legitimized by getting things “Patent” under the
law.
A patent is an exclusive right granted to an
inventor for a limited period of time that prevents the distribution of the
invention without permission. The objective of granting a patent is to
encourage and develop a new technology but various MNCs round the globe are
trying to pick it up as a ‘profit-making’ tool.
It came as an
eye opener when Delhi-based scientists noticed that globally some 5,000
traditional medicinal plants had already been patented, and more than 40% of
them belong to Indian medicinal systems such as Ayurveda. Countless
examples can be cited of MNCs patenting medicinal plants that have been used in
India for more than 2,000 years.
The patents laws
that were earlier enforced region-wise are now being executed at global level
with the help of bodies like United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO),
EPO (European Patent Office) and WTO (World Trade Organization) and
international treaties like TRIPS (Trade Related aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights).
India has been
fairly successful with its attempt of saving the traditional knowledge. It
has managed to revoke a patent from W.R. Grace & Co. (US based company)
over Neem, a medicinal plant of India, after a decade long court battle.
India recently
managed to revoke a patent over Mint (pudina) and Andrographis (kalamegha),
medicinal herbs, granted by EPO to Chinese pharmaceutical giant- Livzon. India
even sued Monsanto, a US based company over the use of Brinjal.
“This can
send a different message to the big companies for violating the laws of the
nation,” said K.S. Sugara, Member Secretary of the Karnataka Biodiversity
Board, to France 24 concerning the lawsuit. “It is not acceptable that
the farmers in our communities are robbed of the advantage they should get from
the indigenous varieties.”
The never-ending
controversial patent list contains some names like Neem, hill turmeric,
brinjal, Basmati,black plum (Jamun), various GM seeds and even ‘Atta Chakkis’,
the traditional methods of producing the flour (atta) used by Indians
since ages.
Keeping these
proliferating patent controversies in mind, India also took some initiatives to
create a reliable and official database of the medicinal preparations on the
basis of traditional knowledge called TKDL (Traditional Knowledge Digital
Library).
The project TDKL
initiated in 2001 by the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani,
Siddha and Homoeopathy which provides information on traditional knowledge
existing in the country, in languages and format understandable by patent
examiners at International Patent Offices (IPOs), so as to prevent the grant of
wrong patents. TKDL thus, acts as a bridge between the
traditional knowledge information existing in local languages and the patent
examiners at IPOs.
The Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) game is difficult for most of the Indian companies as it
is costly affair to deal with. It approximately costs around USD
2,50,000 in defending and enforcing a patent during its life-time, even after
which the things remain uncertain.
Owing to such
price tags the industries bottom line is: ‘No Patents, No Benefits’ and in this
blind race some MNCs even tried to patent the Yoga Asanas but India took a
dynamic step and managed to void their petitions by declaring that about
200,000 traditional treatments are ‘public property’.
Not only India
but Africa and Latin America have been the prowling grounds for First World’s
knowledge pirates. But India lies on a completely different
plain as it has raised a strong voice against it and is emerging as an
effective battler against these politically illicit actions.
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