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Intellectual property on top of century's agenda: Mashelkar

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

"The grant of patents on non-origin innovations (particularly those linked to traditional medicines) which were based on what was already a part of the traditional knowledge of the developing world was of great concern to the affected countries."

These views were expressed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research chief Prof R A Mashelkar, while speaking on 'Intellectual Property Rights and Wrongs: A Developing World Perspective' at the 89th Indian Science Congress.

"Our goal should be to link our traditional knowledge to the globally acceptable international patent classification system, in order to build the bridge between knowledge contained in our ancient scriptures and today's computer screen of a patent examiner in Washington," Mashelkar stressed.

The man who shot into the spotlight for winning the haldi' (turmeric) patent war against the US, said, "traditional knowledge in developing countries was facing a piquant situation as it was passed on from one generation to other, but the world never knew about it."

Citing the case of 'haldi' (turmeric), he went on to add, "see how 'haldi' has been a victim of this ; Indians were fully aware of its medicinal worth, but the world was ignorant."

He was glad at the government's move to now create a traditional knowledge digital library on traditional medicinal plants, which he felt, will lead to creation of traditional knowledge resource classification as well.

"This would eradicate the existing problem of wrongful grant of patents since the examiner would be aware of the Indian rights to that knowledge," he pointed out.

"Intellectual property will be relevant to a wide range of socio-economic, technological and political concerns," he said. "An ideal regime of intellectual property rights strikes a balance between private incentives for innovators and public interest of maximising access to the fruits of innovation," he added.

Referring to the impact of TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Systems) agreement, he said, "It will vary in developing countries. While middle income nations like Brazil and Malaysia are likely to benefit from the spur to local innovation, countries like India and China, that are better endowed, can gain in the long run by stronger IPR protection."

He, however, cautioned the poor nations which have little to boast of in the name of formal innovation. "They are bound to face higher costs without any benefits in return," he said.

The CSIR chief seemed to sum up his entire philosophy in these words, "a nation's future will be determined by its ability to convert knowledge into wealth and social good through the process of innovation."

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