Traditional Knowledge and Arbitration Dispute Resolution: Indigenous People and Local Communities

Introduction

Traditional knowledge is a set of cumulative knowledge, which is handed down from one generation to another generation through cultural transmission. One of the definitions can be “a body of knowledge built by a group of people through generations living in close contact with nature”. It is generally described as information, which exists in a society passed by previous members of the society. The information mainly includes the use, the method and even the manner of manufacturing of the products majorly used by the natives or the members of the society (Anderson, 2012).

Traditional Knowledge can be classified into the following categories:

• •

  Information is known to society with or without the documentation and its constant use by people, e.g., the common use of Neem, Turmeric, and Tulsi.

• •

  Information that is adequately documented or commonly known outside the group.

• •

  Information is known only to a few individuals and members of a few families.

The issue of the protection of the Traditional Knowledge of the local and Indigenous communities seems to have become one of the most contentious and complicated nowadays (Simon, 2005).

Historical Background On Traditional Knowledge

The holders of Traditional Knowledge, who are trying to protect their knowledge through the Intellectual Property system, have three major constraints. They are as follows:

• 1.

  Most traditional knowledge is ancient and does not meet the criteria of novelty or “inventive step”.

• 2.

  Traditional Knowledge is a collective effort as there is no particular individual who can be termed as the inventor and thus in whose name the application can be filed.

• 3.

  The cost involved in drafting and prosecuting the application form, the acquisition, the maintenance and finally, the enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.