It is hoped that India's TKDL will help the USPTO to determine accurate benchmarks for patentability in the pharmaceutical field, and improve the quality of pharmaceutical patents, which have often clashed with traditional knowledge (TK) on the grounds of obviousness.

Presented to the USPTO at a time when the organisation is pushing to raise efficiency, the TKDL will give examiners full access to information on traditional Indian therapies. By helping examiners to pinpoint treatments that have long been in the public domain, the system aims to ensure that matching subject matter claimed in patent applications is rejected. As any claim with a traditional background is implicitly obvious, the lack of inventive step makes it ineligible.

In the past 15 years, concerns have grown in the Indian government over the number of foreign patents that have been based on native traditions. One case that brought the issue to light was that of Suman K Das and Hari HP Cohly - US-based Indians who received a patent from the USPTO in 1995 for a turmeric-based wound-healing treatment. Following a challenge from the Indian government on the grounds that turmeric's healing properties were a well-known TK matter, the patent's claims were rejected in 1997. This year, however, India cited 285 active European patents that were based on Indian medicinal plants.

Holding 30 million pages of data on 200,000 traditional therapies, the TKDL was compiled with significant input from India's Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH). USPTO deputy director Sharon Barner said that the organisation 'has long been concerned about attempts to patent traditional knowledge, not only because it may result in an incorrectly granted patent, but also because it removes knowledge from the public domain.

'We have urged countries to create - and make available to examiners around the world - digital libraries of their traditional knowledge to prevent erroneous patent grants,' Barner added. 'India's TKDL is just such a library, and we are pleased that our examiners now have access to it.'

News of the scheme came just 10 days after the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) called for a global legal framework to protect TK. At a conference organised in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), representatives from India, the US, Bangladesh, South Africa and Kenya discussed the need for a 'rigorous analysis' of TK misappropriation.

Speaking at the conference, WIPO director Dr Francis Gurry highlighted the complexity involved in adapting the IP system to provide TK protection for multiple territories. 'Pragmatism is the only way we will move forward,' he said, adding that solutions would have to be found that would give separate national jurisdictions enough flexibility. Gurry also congratulated India for the steps it has taken to protect its TK.

In addition to its TK focus, the conference highlighted similar worldwide protection issues around genetic resources (GRs) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs).