New Delhi: As per the information received from CSIR, till date TKDL has been successful in preventing the grant of wrong patents in 219 cases. For further facilitating the prevention of grant of wrong patents at International Patent Offices (IPOs), International Access Agreements on TKDL have been concluded with United States Patent & Trademark Office, European Patent Office, Canada Patent Office, Germany Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, United Kingdom Patent Office, Australia Patent Office, Malaysia Patent Office, Chile Patent Office and Indian Patent Office.
As per the information provided by the CSIR, the implementing agency of the TKDL project, the expenditure incurred on the project is about Rs. 16.18 Crores during the financial year 2012-2017.
The Ministry of AYUSH had established Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) in collaboration with Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). As per the information provided by the CSIR, TKDL consist of more than 3.30 lakh medicinal formulations of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga which are available in the public domain, in five international languages namely English, Japanese, French, German and Spanish. To facilitate the protection of country’s traditional knowledge, access of TKDL has been provided to International Patent offices (IPOs) under International Agreement. In addition, pre-grant opposition on patent applications along with prior art evidences from TKDL are submitted on a regular basis.
Indian Patent Office had also brought out Guidelines for processing Patent Applications relating to Traditional Knowledge and Biological Material to help Patent examiner to analyze what constitute novelty and inventive steps in Traditional Knowledge (TK) related invention. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 also aims at conservation of biological resources, sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological resources. Further, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 requires every local body to constitute a Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) within its area with the objective to prepare People’s Biodiversity Register in consultation with local people. The Register shall contain comprehensive information on availability and knowledge of local biological resources, their medicinal or any other use or any other traditional knowledge associated with them.
This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri ShripadYesso Naik in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
