abstract

traditional medicinal knowledge (tmk), especially traditional chinese medicinal knowledge (including diverse traditional theories, methods, beliefs, and practices about illness prevention, diagnosis, or treatment), plays an increasingly significant role in developing countries like china, in terms of its social, economic and medicinal interests. despite the fact that china has enjoyed reputation in its in-depth researches, only a small number of tmk-based patents are registered, which ascribes to weak domestic awareness to protect their tmk-based medicines or practices under the umbrella of legal system. therefore, this paper elaborates on why and how to protect our valuable tmk. first, it briefs the existing domestic and international legislation concerned, and works out the definition and features of tmk, then specifically dwells on several strategies of tmk protection, varying with different purposes on different occasions. among all sorts of tactics are protection of eligible tmk under the existing intellectual property right (ipr) system—such as copyright, trademark, patent, and undisclosed information—or proposal for a special sui generis system, and establishment of database for public knowledge protection. since the sui generis system and database claim entangled in-depth consideration and efforts in respect of national policies, legislation, technology and so on, a larger part of illustration would focus on the existing legal system. taken together, these concerns will lead to improving equity while preserving open access to traditional medicinal knowledge.

key words: traditional medicinal knowledge (tmk), intellectual property right (ipr), sui generis system, database

论文摘要

如今，传统医药知识，尤其是传统中医药知识（包括各种有关疾病预防、诊断、治疗的传统医学理论、方法、信仰和实践），在中国等发展中国家的社会、经济和医疗事业发展中担当着举足轻重的作用。尽管中国在传统医学的研究领域享有声誉，但由于普遍缺乏利用知识产权来保护传统医药和传统实践的法律意识，仅有少数人对这些药物或实践申请了专利。因此，该论文将详细分析研究如何保护传统医药知识。首先介绍的是当前这方面国内外的立法情况，并明确传统医药知识的定义和特征，之后将针对不同情况和不同的保护目的提出各自的保护方案。这些策略包括，现有知识产权的适用，如著作权、商标权、专利权、技术秘密等，或建立传统知识的专门制度，并成立资料库以查阅进入公众领域的传统医药知识。由于实施专门制度和资料库会涉及国家政策、立法及技术等多方面因素，需要考虑更多更复杂的问题，因此该论文将集中分析知识产权现有形式下的传统医药知识保护，以明确并改善目前情况，保证公平和保存传统知识。

关键词：传统医药知识、知识产权、专门制度、资料库

table of contents

1.  introduction. 1

1.1. necessity of the protection of traditional medicinal knowledge. 1

1.1.1. the importance of traditional medicinal knowledge. 1

1.1.2. purposes of protection. 2

1.2. protection under the legal framework. 2

1.2.1. international instruments and organizations in brief 2

1.2.2. domestic legislation. 3

2.  conceptual framework: what is traditional medicinal knowledge. 4

2.1. definition of traditional medicinal knowledge. 4

2.2. features of traditional medicinal knowledge. 6

3. strategies for protection of traditional medicinal knowledge. 7

3.1. use of the existing ipr system.. 8

3.1.1. justification for ip protection. 8

3.1.2. specific iprs eligible. 10

3.1.2.1. copyrights and related rights. 10

3.1.2.2. patent 11

3.1.2.3. trademark. 14

3.1.2.4. undisclosed information. 16

3.2. sui generis system.. 17

3.3. establishment of database. 18

4. conclusion. 19

references. 21