From pdh@u.washington.edu Fri Aug 6 15:08:34 1999 Received: from jason01.u.washington.edu (root@jason01.u.washington.edu [140.142.70.24]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.01) with ESMTP id PAA54282 for ; Fri, 6 Aug 1999 15:08:31 -0700 Received: from saul1.u.washington.edu (pdh@saul1.u.washington.edu [140.142.82.10]) by jason01.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.01) with ESMTP id PAA16632 for ; Fri, 6 Aug 1999 15:08:30 -0700 Received: from localhost (pdh@localhost) by saul1.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.01) with ESMTP id PAA11283 for ; Fri, 6 Aug 1999 15:08:30 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 15:08:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Department of Zoology To: indknow@u.washington.edu Subject: CIEL Asks US PTO to Boost Recognition of TK Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 14:35:25 -0400 From: Stas Burgiel - BIONET information services To: biodiv-conv@igc.org Subject: CIEL Asks US PTO to Boost Recognition of TK On March 30, CIEL challenged the US patent on the ayahuasca vine, on behalf of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the Coalition for Amazonian Peoples and Their Environment (Amazon Coalition). The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is now reexamining that patent. Meanwhile, on August 2 CIEL filed comments with the PTO calling for changes in the procedures for identifying prior art during the examination of a patent application. The comments were also supported by COICA, the Amazon Coalition, and the Indigenous Environmental Network North American Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Project. Traditional and informal knowledge developed and maintained by indigenous and local communities is a significant "prior art" resource for innovation, particularly in pharmaceutical and other technologies based upon biological diversity and biological resources. Such prior art is relevant in determining whether patent applications in such fields of technology describe inventions that meet the requirements for patenting of novelty and non-obviousness. As illustrated by the ayahuasca and turmeric patents, PTO's current approach leads to problems in identifying such prior art and ensuring that patenting requirements are met. In our comments, CIEL recommends improvements that the PTO could make to procedures and practices, within the framework of existing law. (The PTO is currently considering changes in its regulations, but no changes in legislation.) These proposed changes would significantly enhance the ability of patent examiners to assemble and review the prior art relevant to an application. At the same time, they would enhance recognition of the contributions of indigenous peoples and non-Western cultures to universal knowledge, enhance incentives for the conservation of traditional knowledge systems and associated biodiversity, and encourage equitable sharing of benefits between the users of traditional knowledge and those who have created and maintained it. Of course, these changes would not fully address widespread concerns, but they would be a step in the right direction. Under the United States Constitution, the underlying mission of intellectual property law is "[t]o promote the progress of science and useful arts." One of the ways that patent law promotes this goal is through the disclosure to the public of the basis for an invention (patent applications become publicly available if the patent is granted). The proper acknowledgment of "prior art" - that is, discoveries by others in the same field of technology to which the invention is an addition is valuable both as a resource for future innovators and as recognition accorded to the predecessors whose intellectual labors made the invention possible. In this context, disclosure of traditional knowledge that forms part of the prior art "promotes the progress of science and useful arts" by according recognition to knowledge created by cultures whose contributions have often been unrecognized and undervalued. Creating positive incentives to maintain these knowledge systems in turn can create an incentive for the knowledge holders to continue the traditional practices by which they have maintained high levels of biodiversity in their homelands over many generations. Indeed, the Convention on Biological Diversity recognizes this linkage - it requires governments to take steps to respect, preserve and maintain indigenous and local peoples' traditional knowledge, innovations and practices, and encourage equitable sharing of the benefits from its use. A copy of CIEL's comments (warning - a highly technical document, in Word format, of 138 KB) can be obtained by request from Kris Genovese at CIEL, cielkg@igc.org. For more information, please contact Glenn Wiser or David Downes at CIEL. David Downes, Senior Attorney Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) 1367 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Ste. 300 Washington, D.C. 20036 U.S.A. Tel: +1 (202) 785-8700 Fax: +1 (202) 785-8701 E-Mail: ddownes@igc.apc.org WWW: http://www.econet.apc.org/ciel/ ************************************ Biodiversity Action Network (BIONET) 1630 Connecticut Ave. NW, 3rd Floor Washington, DC 20009 - USA Tel: +1.202.547.8902 Fax: +1.202.265.0222 E-mail: bionet@igc.org URL: http://www.bionet-us.org ************************************ .