A Legal Placebo: The Role of International Patent Law in the Protection of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge of Medicinal Plants

Abstract:

The basic theory underlining this article is that Indigenous traditional knowledge of medicinal plants should not be brought under the auspices of international intellectual patent law. Given the unlikelihood that the international intellectual property community will modify international patent law so that Indigenous traditional knowledge can be protected under patent law as an equal but alternative science, only parts of Indigenous traditional knowledge of medicinal plants that pass the current patentability test and have significant commercial potential would receive protection. This, in conjunction with the sovereign status of the state in international law, makes international intellectual property law an unsatisfactory candidate for the protection of Indigenous traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and the holders of this knowledge.