139. The representative of Australia attached great importance to addressing the protection of traditional knowledge. Referring to the paper presented by his delegation in the Council in October 2001 (IP/C/W/310), he said that this paper outlined some of the Australian experience in the protection of traditional knowledge. The paper also referred to a series of Australian case studies undertaken by WIPO in the period 2000 2001. These case studies provided specific examples in which a holder of traditional knowledge or an indigenous or local community used a domestic intellectual property system to protect traditional knowledge. It was also argued in the paper that better use could be made not only of existing intellectual property rights, but also of heritage, trade secrets and contract law to protect traditional knowledge.
140. Furthermore, he said that his delegation was interested in exploring the protection of traditional knowledge through the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, which was one of the bodies that had been doing valuable work in this area. He said that there was a clear recognition that a single solution could not be expected to meet the wide range of concerns and objectives behind calls for the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore. The type of measures required to prevent the misappropriation of traditional knowledge might not be the same as those needed to enable the commercialization of traditional knowledge. He noted that the work in WIPO was aimed at developing some practical tools to address the concerns in this area. For example, a so-called toolkit was designed to assist indigenous people in better documenting their traditional knowledge, whether this was for conservation or commercialization objectives. He expressed that his delegation would support further technical cooperation work in WIPO on the legal protection of folklore as well as preparing a practical guide on the legal protection of traditional cultural expressions. He noted that a number of Members had provided technical assistance to the countries who had taken steps either nationally or regionally to protect traditional knowledge. For example, the South Pacific Commission, the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat and UNESCO had developed a model law, with technical assistance from WIPO and Australia, for the protection of traditional knowledge and expressions of culture which was tailored to meet the specific needs of the Pacific island countries. He indicated that this draft model law merely represented one kind of approach for the protection of traditional knowledge. Other countries considering the development of legislation for the protection of traditional knowledge could take different approaches to take account of their particular circumstances.
141. In conclusion, he said that his delegation looked forward to further discussion on the issue of the protection of traditional knowledge since there were a number of different positions even among the group of mega bio-diverse countries. This issue would benefit from further technical discussion in the TRIPS Council and other relevant international bodies.
