Break with tradition

All kinds of ‘traditional knowledge’, including that which is exclusive to families/communities, are part of a ‘knowledge commons’ and can be freely used (under a ‘commons license’) for non-commercial purposes by any non-corporate entity. However, family/community-owned knowledge would need to be verified and registered with a state authority. Most interestingly, the policy envisages an open source model, where anything created/invented using such traditional knowledge flows back to the common pool of traditional knowledge.

This move to legislate on traditional knowledge is a very bold, non-traditional move. Oddly enough, India and other developing countries despite having raised the issue globally and expecting the international community to readily accept it, have not so much as worked out a domestic regime in this regard. One must remember that TRIPS, a legislation mandating uniform IP standards, was shoved down the throat of many unsuspecting developing countries only after its developed country proponents had carefully crafted their own domestic regimes.

Although the broad principles underlying the policy appear robust, some of the finer points need further thinking through:

First, in the case of community/family owned traditions, one has to ask: does this policy offer sufficient incentives for these families/communities to disclose their closely held (and in most cases, almost ‘trade secret’ like) knowledge. Consider the implications of such disclosure. The policy provides that such knowledge can be freely used for non-commercial purposes by all Kerala residents. Given that a number of traditional knowledge and associated products often translate to ‘home remedies’ (consider grandmothers’ remedies involving the mixture of various herbs), would a family/community consider risking such disclosure?

... contd.