SCIENCE REPORTER, MAY 2011 38

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HE global fight against bio-piracy andpreservation of intellectual propertyrights of the people took a major step

forward recently when about 35 countriescame together at an internationalconference to explore options ofreplicating India’s TKDL or Tradit ionalKnowledge Digital Library to protect theirtraditional knowledge. The International

Conference on Utilization of the Traditional

Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) as a Model

for Protection of Traditional Knowledge

held in New Delhi from 22-24 March 2011demonstrated in ample measure TKDL’simmense value in safeguarding national TK.

Acknowledging the success of India’sTKDL, Shri P.K. Bansal, Minister of S&T andEarth Sciences, said while inaugurating theconference: “TKDL has made wavesaround the world, particularly in TK-richcountries, by demonstrating theadvantages of proactive action and thepower of strong deterrence.”

Prof. S.K. Brahmachari, DirectorGeneral-CSIR said that in the future TKDLcould be uti l ized in open innovationmodels for coming out with low-costmedicines against diseases such as TB,malaria and filaria. He gave the exampleof Risorine – an anti-TB medicine currentlyin the market where bio-enhancer leadwas obtained from Trikatu. He emphasizedthat TKDL is community knowledge andthat CSIR/AYUSH do not “own” it.

Attended by delegates from about35 countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan,Botswana, Brazi l, Bulgaria, Chile,Cambodia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica,Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mongolia,Nepal, Republic of Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka,Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Vietnam andZambia, the Conference was aimed atsharing experiences and information onthe role of TKDL in documentation of TK, toidentify the intellectual property issues inand technical implications of theestablishment of a TKDL, and to explorethe role and functioning of the TKDL withinthe international IP protection system. It wasorganized by the Council of Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR) in association with

the World Intellectual PropertyOrganization (WIPO).

The TKDL documents traditionalknowledge available in public domain inthe form of existing literature related toAyurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga, andpresents it in searchable and digitized formatin English, German, French, Japanese andSpanish. The information is structured to assistpatent examiners in their search for existingevidence of previously known/documentedknowledge or prior art.

Every Indian remembers the feelingof national outrage and personalhelplessness as international patents weregranted for the wound-healing propertiesof haldi (turmeric) and the anti-fungalproperties of neem. The use of haldi andneem for such purposes, as Indiansprotested, was household knowledge. Themedicine chests in Indian homes alwayshad a bouquet of medicinal herbs forimmediate use. Haldi and neem, alongwith tulsi and some other medicinal plantswere greatly valued for their healing andhealth-giving properties.

India did not take thismisappropriation lying down. The CSIRdecided to challenge the patent—andwon. Meanwhile, it became clear thatpatent examiners were handicappedbecause often the TK was oral in natureand even when actually documented inmanuscripts and treatises (as Ayurveda,Yoga and Siddha were) the information isnot structured as per their requirements. Itis also not retrievable by search enginesand so remains out of the reach of patentexaminers, although it is in public domain.

It was against this backdrop that theTKDL was conceived and established. Morethan 150 experts in traditional medicine,law and computer science spent almostten years accessing and classifyinginformation codified in authoritativetextbooks on Ayurvedic, Unani and Siddhamedicines and documenting postures inYoga. They collated scattered datapublished in ancient languages andtransformed it into a systematic, proprietarydatabase. The TKDL digitized available

information in five languages and in aformat that allowed patent examiners toretrieve the information in the way theyneeded.

As it stands today, the TKDL hasdocumented 85,500 Ayurvedic formulations,1,20,200 Unani formulations, 13,470 Siddhaformulations and 1098 Yoga postures. TKDLsafeguards 0.226 million medicinalformulations as these are used in Ayurveda,Unani and Siddha. The TKDL database sizeruns to 34 million A4 size pages.

The USP of TKDL is that it operates withinthe established rules and laws of therecognized patent system and does so ina manner that cannot be challenged inany way. TKDL establishes prior art anddoes so in an internationally acceptablemanner despite the fact that the sourceof the prior art goes back thousands ofyears and was originally written in alanguage few today use regularly. Byempowering patent examiners, TKDL isinstrumental in preventing the grant ofwrong patents.

For instance, a patent that earlier tookat least a decade of enormously expensiveintensive litigation to be revoked is nowbeing routinely refused in a matter ofweeks at no cost (since the patentapplication is rejected and no rights havebeen granted that need to be revoked).A new and welcome trend is that manyapplicants are unilaterally withdrawing theirapplications on being faced with TKDL—their actions tacit acknowledgement of amisappropriation attempt.

India’s leadership in f ightingmisappropriation of TK began to attractvisits of high-level delegations frominternational agencies. South Africa’sDepartment of Science & Technologyvisited in 2003 and in 2004, delegationsfrom African Regional Industrial PropertyOrganization visited India with the idea toreplicate TKDL for ARIPO Member States.Even five years before the presentconference, the Governments of Thailand,Mongolia, Cambodia, Malaysia andIndonesia had already evinced keeninterest in TKDL.

SafeguardingTraditional Knowledge

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Patent Offices across the world werealso eager to have access to TKDL so asto be able to grant patents correctly andwithout subsequent controversy andexpensive and time-consuming litigation.The first request received for TKDL Accesswas in July 2005. However, formal accessto the TKDL was granted with non-disclosure agreement to the EuropeanPatent Office only in February 2009because legal formalit ies had to becompleted.

Once the framework was inplace, access was granted to the IndianPatent Office in July 2009; German PatentOffice in October 2009; United StatesPatent and Trademark Office in November2009, United Kingdom Patent andTrademark Office in February 2010,Canadian Intellectual Property Office inSeptember 2010, and IP Australia inJanuary 2011.

The present conference wasscheduled to be the backdrop for signinga similar agreement with the Japan Patentoffice. However, this was postponed inview of the national calamity in Japan. Asimilar arrangement is currently beingnegotiated with the New Zealand IPOff ice. Interest ingly, USPTO patentexaminers were trained by CSIR for Searchand Examination of TK-based patentapplications in October 2010 at the TKDLfacility in Ghaziabad.

At the conference, representatives ofcountries such as Peru, Brazil, Equador,

Indonesia, Kenya and Thailand presentedbrief accounts of the state of TK and/or TKdocumentation in their countries. Seniorofficials from WIPO also shared theirexperiences and detailed the issuesrelated to the grant of a patent. It wasclear that TKDL or similar digital databaseof documentation is a pre-requisite toidentify evidence of prior art. It was alsoclear that certain common problems werestill to be addressed and that the countrieswere concerned about these. Forexample:� Indian TKDL rel ied on alreadydocumented knowledge or knowledgethat was already present in publishedformat. What would be the case with orallytransmitted TK?� Indian documents used for TKDL areconsidered to belong to all the citizens ofthe nation. What could be the case for TKheld by different communities, even cross-border communities?� How could secret TK bedocumented? This was an importantquestion as certain forms of TK are supposedto remain a secret to be effective.Documenting such knowledge wouldtherefore contravene the tenets of TK� How could the spiritual covenant thattravels with the use of TK be preserved?

Wrapping up the session, Shri V.K.Gupta, Chief Architect of the TKDL project,was categorical that there cannot be a“one size fits all” situation as far as TKDL was

concerned. He affirmedthat there are solutionsbeyond TKDL for TK andthat every country wouldhave to explore thesolution that suits it best.The conference was away of sharing the IndianTKDL experience;countries were welcometo look closely, go backand use the experiencebut were under noobligation to replicate theIndian TKDL in toto.

However, irrespective of what path acountry chose to safeguard its TK, acquiringprior informed consent was a non-negotiable and mandatory requirement.Shri Gupta emphasized that the ownershiplies with the TK holder. This is an ethicalissue that is beyond question. He drew onhis vast experience and advised that theway forward was to take up severalinitiatives and if even one or two yieldedcontinuous results that get noticed, then,those are the leads to follow. He reiteratedthat implementing TKDL has worked forIndia and the next step forward was toutilize and add value to TKDL.

In his closing remarks, Mr NareshPrasad, Executive Director, WIPO said thatthe attempt would be to ensure enduringinstitutional relationship with CSIR subjectto demands by member states who haveseen TKDL at work. He requested thedelegates to mull over all they had heardand seen, reflect and consult and then togive their feedback to WIPO.

The Conference proved that the TKDLstory is not just one of significance fromthe context of national pride but is one ofinspirational leadership that can serve asa beacon illuminating the way forward inthe global fight against bio-piracy andpreservation of IP rights of the people.

Dr Sukanya Datta, Scientist NISCAIR, posted toDG’s Technical Cell, CSIR HQ; Email:sukanya@csir.res.in

On the dais from left :Shri V.K. Gupta,Director - TKDL,Dr. S.K. Brahmachari,DG - CSIR, and Hon’bleMinister Shri P.K.Bansal