Striking a Balance between Intellectual Property Protection of Traditional Knowledge, Cultural Preservation and Access to Knowledge

Abstract

Protecting traditional knowledge through the intellectual property (IP) regime performs the important function of preventing third parties from using the knowledge inappropriately.However, apart from being inaccessible to most holders of traditional knowledge (TK), the regime does not necessarily guarantee the preservation or safeguarding the knowledge. These concerns call for a consideration of avenues that can be used, particularly at policy making level, to strike a balance between protecting TK through the IP regime and ensuring cultural preservation and access to knowledge. This paper highlights the main challenges that are involved in striking this balance. Apart from utilizing available literature on these challenges, the main suggestions from the World Intellectual Property Organization, Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (the IGC) are analyzed with a view to proposing directions that can help to improve the manner in which TK is protected through IP.