Intellectual property is a legal concept which refers to creations of the mind for which exclusive rights are recognized. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property rights include copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights, trade dress, and in some jurisdictions trade secrets.
Intellectual property rights (IPR) are customarily divided into two main areas:
Copyright and rights related to copyright: The rights of authors of literary and artistic works (such as books and other writings, musical compositions, paintings, sculpture, computer programmes and films) are protected by copyright, for a minimum period of 50 years after the death of the author.
Also protected through copyright and related (sometimes referred to as “neighboring”) rights are the rights of performers (e. g. actors, singers and musicians), producers of phonograms (sound recordings) and broadcasting organizations. The main social purpose of protection of copyright and related rights is to encourage and reward creative work.
Industrial property
Industrial property can usefully be divided into two main areas:
One area can be characterized as the protection of distinctive signs, in particular trademarks (which distinguish the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings) and geographical indications (which identify a good as originating in a place where a given characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin).
The protection of such distinctive signs aims to stimulate and ensure fair competition and to protect consumers, by enabling them to make informed choices between various goods and services. The protection may last indefinitely, provided the sign in question continues to be distinctive.
Other types of industrial property are protected primarily to stimulate innovation, design and the creation of technology. In this category inventions (protected by patents), industrial designs and trade secrets are included. The social purpose is to provide protection for the results of investment in the development of new technology, thus giving the incentive and means to finance research and development activities. A functioning intellectual property regime should also facilitate the transfer of technology in the form of foreign direct investment, joint ventures and licensing. The protection is usually given for a finite term (typically 20 years in the case of patents).
IPR and traditional knowledge
When community members innovate within the traditional knowledge framework, they may use the patent system to protect their innovations. However, traditional knowledge as such - knowledge that has ancient roots and is often informal and oral - is not protected by conventional intellectual property systems. This has prompted some countries to develop their own sui generis (specific, special) systems for protecting traditional knowledge.
There are also many initiatives underway to document traditional knowledge. In most cases the motive is to preserve or disseminate it, or to use it, for example, in environmental management, rather than for the purpose of legal protection. There are nevertheless concerns that if documentation makes traditional knowledge more widely available to the general public, especially if it can be accessed on the Internet, this could lead to misappropriation and use in ways that were not anticipated or intended by traditional knowledge holders. At the same time, documentation can help protect traditional knowledge, for example, by providing a confidential or secret record of traditional knowledge reserved for the relevant community only.
Some formal documentation and registries of traditional knowledge support sui generis protection systems, while traditional knowledge databases - such as India's database on traditional medicine - play a role in defensive protection within the existing IP system. These examples demonstrate the importance of ensuring that documentation of traditional knowledge is linked to an intellectual property strategy and does not take place in a policy or legal vacuum.
IPR and ayurveda
Ayurveda is getting its due recognition as a rationale system of medicine worldwide despite the fact that medical and scientific fraternity of the globe has very strong opposite opinion regarding safety and efficacy of Ayurvedic medicines. Meanwhile, provisions of Intellectual Property Rights under World Intellectual Property Organization and patents have attracted many individuals and organizations to explore possibilities of commercial benefits with Ayurvedic traditional knowledge. Although rules are not favouring to grant a patent on prior published knowledge, biopiracy managed grant of patent on knowledge of Ayurvedic medicinal plants which has been successfully checked with references of data base of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library.
Current provisions of the patent law of India are obstructive in nature for getting patent on Ayurvedic medicines. If we have to invite researchers from basic science to ensure quality, safety and efficacy of Ayurvedic medicines, there is an urgent need to amend laws of patent with pragmatic promotional policies. This will encourage more patents on numerous pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmaceutical products based on Ayurveda. As every action of today's world is based on economic criteria so why stakeholders of Ayurveda should be deprived of it. New inventions would drive acceptance of Ayurveda as a global system of medicine.
During last two decades, use of Ayurveda and other Traditional Medicines has expanded globally and gained popularity. It has not only continued to be used for primary healthcare of the poor people in developing countries, but has also been used in countries where conventional medicine is predominant in the national healthcare system. With the tremendous expansion in the use of Traditional Medicines worldwide especially in developed countries, safety and efficacy as well as quality control of herbal medicines and traditional procedure-based therapies have become important concerns for both health authorities and practitioners.
Research should be a process that converts data into information, information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. This is like transforming milk into ghee. It should be more balanced and comprehensive. There should be equal emphasis on literary, field, experimental and clinical research. It should be able to impact the fields of education, pharmacy and practice in a profound way. Present day Ayurvedic researches are failing in this respect as they are unable to disseminate the knowledge gained from the researches.
Any research work becomes valid and widely accepted when it is published in peer review journals. Documentation and publication of research findings is the main issue faced by Ayurveda in the global arena. There are many scattered evidences for the safety and efficacy of Ayurveda drugs lying with many practitioners and researchers and non governmental bodies. To collect and publish them is the need of time. However, very less research works on Ayurveda are being published. To find out the reason behind this a review of the whole scenario should be done.
Problems of publication of ayurvedic researches can be understood at following levels: Level of research in Ayurveda in India and at international level; Status of institutions conducting research in Ayurveda; Format and protocol of ayurvedic researches; Status of ayurvedic Journals and requirement of modern scientific Journals; Financial support for ayurvedic researches from different sources.
Issues in development of ayurvedic research methodology
Research is the prime need of contemporary Ayurveda, but modern research on Ayurveda has not been very rewarding for Ayurveda itself. Much of it uses Ayurveda to extend modern bioscience. In contrast, Ayurveda needs research designed to test and validate its fundamental concepts as well as its treatments. In this context, if Ayurveda is to be truly explored and validated in all its aspects, scientific inputs should conform to Ayurveda's principles and philosophy. While its evidence base, established since antiquity, may need further verification, research should now focus on the Science of Ayurveda, rather than merely looking for new drugs based on Ayurveda herbals; in-depth research is needed on Ayurveda. Ayurveda research methodology requires the ‘whole system testing approach’, global participation with protocols evolved through intense interface with modern science, regulatory reforms to eliminate barriers, and to be investigated ‘as it is’, using approaches adapted from its own basic principles.
(Author is a herbal consultant, based in Mohali)