PROTECTING TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE WITH PATENTS-‘ A MISNOMER ’ By

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) treat knowledge as a commodity with economic value and financial esteem as opposed to indigenous who consider their knowledge as pious sacrosanct. With the increasing quest to protect Traditional Knowledge and to prevent its misappropriation, the primary concern that has to be addressed is: Can IP protect Traditional Knowledge? Protecting Traditional Knowledge with IPR is often faced with the criticism that IPR stimulates the reification or commodification of knowledge. The subject of this paper will be limited to patent only, and not other areas of IPR. Should Patent protection be granted to Traditional Knowledge? If yes, the pivotal question is how to protect and prevent its misappropriation. Keywords– Patent, Traditional