AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

AAAS Project on Traditional Ecological Knowledge

AAAS Handbook on Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge

Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property: A Handbook on Issues and Options for Traditional Knowledge Holders in Protecting their Intellectual Property and Maintaining Biological Diversity.

Realizing that defensive disclosure is not the only option for traditional knowledge holders, AAAS has created a handbook that attempts to make intellectual property protection options more understandable and readily available for traditional knowledge holders. Its goal is to help local communities understand and identify potential protection mechanisms already present in current intellectual property rights (IPRs) regimes and the public domain for traditional knowledge. In addition to introducing some basic intellectual property concepts, this handbook contains a series of exercises to help the reader to identify knowledge and classify types of knowledge, as well as cultural and interest-related aspects of that knowledge. Through a series of exercises, it is possible for traditional knowledge holders to identify whether or not intellectual property options in the current regime are relevant and/or appropriate for their knowledge.

The handbook is available in PDF format, either as one large file or three smaller files.

Download entire handbook (2.4 Megabytes)

Download the handbook in sections.

• Section one (987 Kilobytes)
• Section two (486 Kilobytes)
• Section three (324 Kilobytes)