22 March 2011: Representatives from 35 countries are participating in the International Conference on the Utilization of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) as a Model for Protection of Traditional Knowledge, convening from 22-24 March 2011, in New Delhi, India.

The objectives of the Conference are to: share experiences and information on the role of the TKDL in the documentation of traditional knowledge (TK); identify the intellectual property issues in, and technical implications of, the establishment of a TKDL; and explore the role and functioning of the TKDL within the international intellectual property (IP) protection system. The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Francis Gurry, described the TKDL approach as complementary to the work currently underway in WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), where WIPO’s member states are negotiating an international legal instrument to ensure the effective protection of TK and traditional cultural expressions, and to regulate the interface between intellectual property and genetic resources.

India’s TKDL project, developed over a 10-year period, documented knowledge about traditional medical treatments and the curative properties of plants, which was contained in ancient texts and languages, and classified the information in a searchable database. The TKDL now contains 34 million pages in five international languages. By making this information available to six major international patent offices, via Access and Non-Disclosure Agreements, the TKDL, coupled with India’s global biopiracy watch system, has achieved dramatic success in preventing the granting of erroneous patents, at minimal direct cost and in a matter of a few weeks, according to India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). [WIPO Press Release] [Meeting Website]