The government of India has granted the European Patent Office (EPO) access to its Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), according to EPO.
Loaded with ancient medical knowledge, the online database contains translations of manuscripts and textbooks in five languages, including English.
Examiners at the EPO will use the TKDL to evaluate patent applications and to better treat attempts to patent traditional knowledge as “new” inventions. Even 500-year-old texts on ayurvedic cures and herbal remedies are now available to EPO patent examiners.
“The cooperation between India and the EPO brings advantages to both parties. It helps protect India’s traditional knowledge from misappropriation and gives the EPO additional relevant information for granting properly defined patents,” Director of Information Acquisition at the EPO Paul Schwander said.
For the first time in history, the TKDL makes traditional Indian medical texts available in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. It is also the first time that these texts – many of them old manuscripts written in Hindi, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and other languages – can be accessed in a digital, searchable format.
Development of the TKDL started in 1999 as a joint project between five Indian government organizations, including the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR). In total the project will cost $2 million.
EPO examiners have been able to access the TKDL since February 2, 2009. Various other countries have also granted the EPO access to traditional knowledge databases. In 2008, the Chinese Patent Office (SIPO) opened its 32 000-entry database on traditional Chinese medicine to the EPO.
The main aim of the TKDL is to prevent unjustified patenting – and thereby commercial exploitation – of traditional knowledge that is already being used in the public domain in India.
Such public knowledge constitutes “prior art”, according to EPO regulations. As such, it cannot be patented unless the applicants can demonstrate significant inventive or new improvements.
Unjustified patent claims based on traditional knowledge, or “biopiracy”, have recently made headlines. In 2008, the Indian government won a ten-year legal battle appeal against a patent application that had been granted for an anti-fungal product derived from the native Neem tree.
With the TKDL, patent examiners can now compare patent applications to existing traditional knowledge documented in this new source.
Examiners can limit the scope of a patent or reject it altogether before it is granted. This can prevent lengthy, and costly opposition procedures.
SOURCE:AGIPNEWS
