Protecting Traditional Knowledge

Very few readers will be aware of the existence of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIP0) and still less of its intergovernmental committee on intellectual property and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore that has been deliberating since 2000. This book provides the first comprehensive review of its progress and negotiations in the light of increasing concern about the misappropriation of indigenous genetic patrimony. The book is necessarily technical, introducing the process and discussing substantive issues as well as future prospects. In view of the section entitled stakeholder perspectives, it is easy to understand why little progress has been made and the limits of 'constructive ambiguity' in terms of turning the process into an outcome. The content of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples makes encouraging reading, but one still has the sense that indigenous peoples are largely marginalised and that substantive agreement is still some way off in a situation of 'polite deadlock' characterised by hundreds of phrases still in square brackets. While the US insists on freedom of creativity and innovation to drive economic growth, countries like India would like to see their own legal approach extended, while indigenous peoples insist on stronger protection.