On The International Intellectual Property Legal Protection Study Of Traditional Knowledge

The age of knowledge economy has come, all kinds of knowledge provide constant power for the development of human society. With the process of modern science and technology, traditonal knowledge is gradually valued and widely used. At the same time, the protection, especially the intellectual property protection makes many scholars, researchers and legislators confused.The existence and development of traditional knowledge is in crisis. The appeal on the protection from the traditional knowledge owned communities, nationalites and countries; esp. the developping countries becomes stronger and stronger. Comparing with that of modern knowledge, the protection of traditional knowledge which is the source of modern knowledge is so obviously neglected that the 300-year-old intellectual property system needs a self-survey now. The cross-boundary utilization of traditional konwledge and the tendency of the internationalization of IP propel the protection into the new phase of forming the international protective system.Since 1950s, more and more international organizations has tried to supply some solutions, none of which is satisfying on the large scale. That is where the motive for the writing of this thesis originates. Wishfully, this paper could contribute a bit to the research.The thesis follows the basic thinking thread: what the traditional knowledge is, why it must be protected and how to protect. Through analysis of resources and cases, this article firstly consists of definition, classification, characteristics, and introduction of currently foreign legislation; then states the neccessity of the formation of the international protective system, which should conclude: being led by WTO and WIPO, the prominent status of TRIPs, the distribution and cooperation among international organizations and conventions, and multiple-choice in legal protective patterns. It is a all-dimension protective system. As the special importance for most developping countries, there are some suggestions and strategies on how to promote the formation of the system mentioned above in practice. At last, according to China's situation, the suggestion of legal improvement is led by IP system, assited by other laws and regulations, and joining the international legislation on this topic. This paper attaches more importance on the macrosopical formation of international legal system on the protection of traditional knowlwdge, any flaw in the particular analysis welcomes critical comments.