QUESTION 14
GS3
12.5 marks
India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), which has a database containing formatted information on more than 2 million medicinal formulations, is proving a powerful weapon in the country’s fight against erroneous patents. Discuss the pros and cons of making this database publicly available under open-source licensing.
WRITE IN
9 min
200 words
What the examiner wants
Discuss pros and cons of making the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library openly available.
Discuss pros + ConsAnswer exactly what the question asks.
Demand-wise check
- 1TKDL: CSIR and AYUSH (2001); traditional formulations in patent-examiner format; access agreements with patent offices≈35 words
- 2Pros: transparency, research, wider prior-art defence, startups, AYUSH promotion≈35 words
- 3Cons: free use by firms to make incremental patents, biopiracy, loss of benefit-sharing leverage, no compensation to communities≈35 words
- 4Middle path: controlled or paid access, benefit-sharing under Biological Diversity Act and Nagoya Protocol≈35 words
Open in about 30 words and close in about 30.
Answer plan
TKDL rolePros of open accessConsMiddle path
Where marks usually go
- Not explaining why TKDL was kept restricted
- Ignoring benefit-sharing laws
Draw this
- Pros-cons table plus a middle-path box
Value addition
- CasePatents on turmeric's wound-healing use (USPTO) and neem's fungicide use (EPO) were revoked in the late 1990s and 2000 after Indian challenges.USPTO 1997; EPO 2000
- LawSection 3(p) of the Patents Act excludes traditional knowledge from patentability.Patents Act, 1970 (amended 2002)
Next: plan for one minute, write it in 9 minutes, then get it checked.