Abstract:

The Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (“the Committee”) has decided to establish a toolkit to provide practical information on the intellectual property (IP) aspects of documentation of traditional knowledge (TK). This paper discusses the background to this decision, and the needs the toolkit is intended to meet. It provides a draft outline as the basis for development of the toolkit, and describes the extensive consultations already undertaken on this draft. Further input is sought on the draft and on the proposed elements of the toolkit, so that a pilot version of the toolkit can be developed, consulted upon and reviewed in advance of the fifth session of the Committee.