International Conference on the Utilization of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library as a Model for Protection of Traditional Knowledge

March 22 to 24, 2011 - New Delhi, India

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in cooperation with India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is organizing an International Conference on the Utilization of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) as a Model for Protection of Traditional Knowledge, in New Delhi, India, from March 22 to 24, 2011.  Participants from India and some 35 other countries are expected to attend the meeting.  All WIPO Member States, and in particular patent offices that have TKDL Access and Non-disclosure Agreements with the CSIR have been invited.

Objectives

The Conference aims to:

• share experiences and information on the role of a TKDL in the documentation of traditional knowledge (TK);
• identify the intellectual property (IP) issues in and technical implications of the establishment of a TKDL; and
• explore the role and functioning of the TKDL within the international IP protection system.

Speakers

Local speakers will explain the origins, establishment and functioning of the TKDL.  There will also be presentations on the international patent system and the TKDL, IP and the TKDL as a model for protection and on the negotiations currently underway in WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore. Discussions on the policy and practical considerations for the establishment of TKDLs in other countries are also expected to take place.

WIPO's Role

WIPO seeks to collaborate with the Government of India to make available the Government’s experience, expertise and technology in establishing the TKDL to other countries that wish, of their own accord, to create their own TKDLs and would assist beneficiary countries, should they so wish, to conclude access and non-disclosure agreements with international patent offices.  Establishing TKDLs raises a number of policy, legal, practical and a number of technological challenges.