Patenting aspects of traditional knowledge and natural products(curcuma & neem)

Patenting aspects of Traditional Knowledge and Natural Products. Case study of Curcuma
& Neem.
Introduction
Meaning Of Traditional Knowledge
Patents And Traditional Knowledge In India
Traditional Knowledge In Danger
Turmeric Patent
Neem Patent
WHAT INDIA NEEDS TO DO?

1. Patenting aspects of Traditional Knowledge and Natural Products. Case study of Curcuma & Neem Prepared By: MOHAMMAD KHALID (Assistant Professor ) Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor (UP)

2. Contents: Introduction Meaning Of Traditional Knowledge Patents And Traditional Knowledge In India Traditional Knowledge In Danger Turmeric Patent Neem Patent WHAT INDIA NEEDS TO DO? 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 2

3. Introduction Protections of the Traditional Knowledge of the local and indigenous communities seem to be one of the most contentious and complicated issue. Traditional Knowledge was treated as Knowledge in the public demeans for free exploitation without showing any respect or concern for the effort taken by the communities to preserve and promote the same. Traditional knowledge (TK) associated with the biological resources is the knowledge about a country‘s biodiversity; the applied uses and applications of biological resources and the prevalent practices. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 3

4. Meaning Of Traditional Knowledge Traditional Knowledge (TK), variously referred to as “traditional knowledge”, “traditional ecological knowledge”, “local knowledge”, “folk knowledge” is knowledge developed by local and indigenous communities over time in response to the needs of their specific local environment. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines traditional knowledge as ― “ Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, “indigenous heritage” and “customary heritage rights”. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 4

5. Patents And Traditional Knowledge In India The way intellectual property rights have been designed in modern commerce, traditional knowledge cannot be protected. For instance, traditional knowledge cannot be patented because such knowledge lacks inventive character, because of the inherent lack of novelty. In India, the provisions of the Biological Diversity Act and Forest Rights Act of 2006 both provide a shield for tribal traditional knowledge, by, one the one hand, respecting and protecting the knowledge of the local communities related to biodiversity and on the other, declaring that the intellectual property rights, in such knowledge belongs primarily to members of the community collectively. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 5

6. India possesses a rich traditional knowledge which is generally being passed down by word of mouth from one generation to another. Most part of this traditional knowledge is inaccessible to common since it is described in ancient classical and other literature. There is also a threat of misuse of such knowledge through obtaining patents on non-original innovations which is a great loss to the country. TKDL(Traditional Knowledge Digital Library) addresses these issues. TKDL is an initiative to provide the information on traditional knowledge existing in the country, in languages and format understandable by patent examiners at International Patent Offices (IPOs), so as to prevent the grant of wrong patents. Continue…… 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 6

7. Continue…… TKDL is a collaborative project of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani , Siddha and Homoeopathy, is situated in Ghaziabad, U.P. TKDL acts as a bridge between the traditional knowledge information existing in local languages and the patent examiners at IPOs. The TRIPS Agreement also has some provisions having limited application to the protection of Traditional Knowledge. This will happen by traditional knowledge being widely and universally accepted within “western” or “modern” innovation protection systems and becoming a reference point within the regular operations of the international patent system. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 7

8. Traditional Knowledge In Danger The national knowledge commission India recommended to protect traditional knowledge and said - Establish goals for conservation of natural resources: A. Support non-Government and corporate initiatives for promotion of traditional health sciences. Promote international cooperation Support primary healthcare in rural areas Create a major re-branding exercise of Indian traditional medicine 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 8

9. Turmeric is a tropical herb grown in east India. Turmeric powder is widely used in India as a medicine, a food ingredient and a dye to name a few of its uses. I t is used as a blood purifier, in treating the common cold, and as an anti-parasitic for many skin infections. The Patent: In 1995 two Indian scientists working in the U.S. were granted a patent for a method of: “promoting healing of a wound by administering Turmeric to a patient afflicted with the wound.” 81 The patent was assigned to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Turmeric Patent 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 9

10. Plaintiff: The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of India challenged the patent in 1996.3 CSIR claimed that the patent lacked novelty as the use of Turmeric as a method for healing wounds was age old in India and therefore a part of the prior art. CSIR presented 32 references, some of them over a hundred years old, some references are: The Effect of Indigenous Remedies on Wounds J. Ind. Med. Asso (1953) The Ayurvedic Pharmacopea of India (1986) Selected Medicinal Plants of India (1992) Bustanul Mufredat (1867) Khazanatul Adviy , Vol-3 (1920 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 10

11. Defendant The inventors chose to pursue the case further on the grounds that- “the powder and paste had different physical properties, i.e. bio-availability and absorbability, and therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would not expect, with any reasonable degree of certainty, that a powdered material would be useful in the same application as a paste of the same material. The inventors, further, mentioned that oral administration was available only with honey and honey itself was considered to have wound healing properties.” The USPTO however rejected this objection and stated that both paste and powder were equivalent in relation the references submitted by CSIR. In 1997 the claims were rejected a second time, and in 1998 the re-examination certificate was issued which signified the end of the case. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 11

12. The NEEM tree is a tropical evergreen tree native to India and is also found in other southeast countries. In India, neem is known as “the village pharmacy” because of its healing versatility, and it has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for more than 4,000 years due to its medicinal properties. Neem is also called ‘arista’ in Sanskrit- a word that means ‘perfect, complete and imperishable’. The seeds, bark and leaves contain compounds with proven antiseptic, antiviral, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer and antifungal uses . Neem Patent 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 12

13. Problem raised in Neem Patent : In the year 1971, a timber importer form US imported neem seeds to plant neem trees in his headquarters in Wisconsin. He also conducted performance and safety tests upon the pesticidal properties of neem and got clearance from the US Environmental Protection Agency known as EPA. After three years he sold the patent to a multinational corporate company which is known as W R Grace and Co. and by the year 1985, several US and Japanese corporations were trying to find and formulation of emulsions for toothpaste production it of Neem . Subsequently in the year 1992, the corporate W R Grace and co claimed rights for the pesticide emulsion begotten out of Neem seeds. And by this, it began to sue Indian companies for making such emulsions. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 13

14. Dispute: According to India‟s claim, it was stated that Neem is an indigenous product and it is still in practice as a form of traditional knowledge in India. It was also said that Neem if granted patent it would affect the poor farmers and by this the Indian economy will also be harmed. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 14

15. Neem campaign in India: A group of individuals and several NGO‟s initiated their Neem campaign and this was done to mobilise the worldwide people for support and to protect the traditional knowledge systems and also protect Indian traditional products from biopiracy . The Neem Case was the first initiative to challenge US and European patents with regard to biopiracy . 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 15

16. Case judgement : On July 30,1997 the European Patent Office (EPO) accepted the arguments of Indian scientists thus this resulted in rejection of patent granted by the iUS patent office to W R Grace and co. The argument which was accepted on whole was the use of Neem and its products in India for a period of more than 4000 years. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 16

17. WHAT INDIA NEEDS TO DO? Using the turmeric and neem case, India needs to challenge the WTO ruling in the TRIPs dispute initiated by the US. The Ruling states that India has "failed to implement a mechanism for preserving novelty and priority". However, when 'novelty' itself is under question as in the case of turmeric, neem and countless other cases of biopiracy , 'preserving novelty' by introducing US like patent laws in India amounts to perpetuating Biopiracy . There are strong grounds for challenging the WTO decision. India should not let this opportunity pass. 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 17

18. http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol3 issue1/ F0313542.pdf?id=5696 http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=1555871&fileOId=1563800 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3038276 https://www.mondaq.com/india/Intellectual-Property/ 586384/Traditional-Knowledge-And-Patent-Issues-An-Overview-Of-Turmeric-Basmati-Neem-Cases https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92752/ https://www.slideshare.net/BhavanaRohidekar/intellectual-property-rights-neem?from_action=save https://acadpubl.eu/hub/2018-119-17/2/105.pdf References 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 18

19. Any Question???? 4 April 2020 Krishna Pharmacy College, Bijnor 19

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