AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

AAAS Project on Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are the legal protections given to persons over their creative endeavors and usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation or discovery for a certain period of time. Intellectual property protections may include patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. To date, intellectual property rights are not adequately extended to the holders of traditional knowledge. The requirements for intellectual property protections under current intellectual property regimes remain largely inconsistent with the nature of traditional knowledge. As a result, this knowledge is neglected, considered part of the public domain with no protections or benefits for the knowledge holders, or often inappropriately expropriated for the financial gains of others, an act often referred to as biopiracy.