Date:22/03/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/03/22/stories/2005032212831100.htm

National

2 CSIR journals in compulsory reference list of patent treaty

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 21. In a move that could have a great significance for the protection of the Indian systems of traditional knowledge, the World Intellectual Property Organisation has decided that two science journals brought out by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) must be compulsorily referred to by patent offices across the world before granting any patent.

The achievement is significant as it would effectively block any misappropriation of India's traditional knowledge at the outset. In other words, the country would not have to spend enormous amounts to challenge patents granted abroad on products and processes that were based on knowledge already available in the country. For instance, the CSIR itself had to mount a costly litigation a few years ago before it could make the U.S. patent office revoke a patent it had granted for use of turmeric for healing wounds.

The journals that have been selected as mandatory reference literature for international patent authorities are the Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge (IJTK) and the Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Abstract (MAPA). Both are brought out by the CSIR's National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR).

The inclusion of the two journals, however, was not automatic. It was brought out after a protest from India. According to CSIR officials, initially, WIPO had issued a draft list of 90 journals, including 11 from India, that could be included in the list of "minimum documentation" under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). But, a meeting of the international authorities of PCT decided to include only 11journals from the list and they were mainly from the developed world. India then lodged a strong protest against the decision.

With this, India has become a part of a select group of 13 countries, whose science journals are included in the PCT's "minimum documentation" list. The other countries are the USA (85 journals), the U.K. (20), Germany (15), Russia (six), Japan (five), the Netherlands (3), France and Switzerland (two each like India) and Denmark, Czech, Italy and Croatia (one each).