Magister Legum - LLM (Mercantile and Labour Law) / Traditional Knowledge (TK) has previously been considered a 'subject' in the public domain,
unworthy of legal protection. However, the last few decades have witnessed increased
discussions on the need to protect the knowledge of indigenous peoples for their economic
sustenance, the conservation of biodiversity and modern scientific innovation. Questions
remain as to how TK can best be protected through existing, adapted or sui generis legal
frameworks.
Based on an examination of the formal knowledge-protection mechanisms (i.e. the existing
intellectual property system), this mini-thesis contends that these existing systems are
inadequate for protecting TK. As a matter of fact, they serve as veritable platforms for
incidences of biopiracy. It further argues that the many international initiatives designed to
protect TK have so far failed owing to inherent shortcomings embedded in them.
Furthermore, a comparative assessment of several national initiatives (in New Zealand, South
Africa and Kenya) supports an understanding that several domestic efforts to protect TK have
been rendered ineffective due to the insurmountable challenge of dealing with the
international violations of local TK rights. It is therefore important that on-going international
negotiations for the protection of TK, including the negotiations within the World Intellectual
Property Organisation's Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic
Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), do not adopt similar approaches to
those employed in previous initiatives if TK must be efficiently and effectively protected.
This mini-thesis concludes that indigenous peoples possess peculiar protection mechanisms
for their TK within the ambit of their customary legal systems and that these indigenous
mechanisms are the required anchors for effective global protections.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/6339 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Kuti, Temitope Babatunde |
| Contributors | Wandrag, R., Moody, T. |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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