Sustaining Multifaceted ‘Traditional Knowledge’: Discussing ‘Traditionology’

Traditional knowledge has garnered enough debate in the domain of intellectual property. The protection of traditional knowledge has become an argument. Traditional knowledge has been knocking at the boundaries of intellectual property for a long time. Irrespective of the legality or illegality of the activity, the situation attracts traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge seems to be very simple in the first instance, but it is not so. The author argues that it is a multifaceted concept and has always had an independent existence, even before its introduction into intellectual property. Legal text and the definition of traditional knowledge are being debated in the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and it seems that this term is difficult to define. The definition should be left open, allowing respective nations to go for a definition suiting their national interests. This would also allow parties to achieve a minimum consensus and explore the horizons of traditional knowledge. Even today, many people rely on traditional knowledge. A balance between technology and traditional knowledge, in the sense that technology is applied over traditional knowledge to sustain a viable economic ecology to contain and protect traditional knowledge, is becoming a requirement. This may be called ‘Traditionolgy’.