Chinese legal experts are turning to the rules of intellectual
property (IP) protection to safeguard the value of the country's
crafts, folk medicine, and even plant genes against what they say
is foreign exploitation.
The Guizhou Provincial Regulation on Traditional Knowledge
Protection, the first government-level statute, will help the
owners of folk arts, traditional knowledge and genetic materials to
safeguard their rights, said Yao Xin, an official with the Rule,
Regulation and Law Department under the State Intellectual Property
Office.
Examples of potential IP issues vary widely.
Japanese and Korean companies have been analyzing the molecular
make-up of guanyin cao, a type of grass, used by generations of
Miao ethnic people in Guizhou to cure colds and bronchial diseases.
Chinese drug makers could suffer large economic losses if foreign
researchers patented therapies based on this plant.
Another tradition is the Miao ethic dress, which some in China
view as "wearing history" or a "wordless history book". These
garments, famous for their elegant design and delicate needlework
techniques passed down from generation to generation, have become a
popular collectible among foreign art hunters.
More than 180 magnificent Miao garments are on display in a
private museum in Paris, including 15 rare pieces used for
sacrificial rites. That's larger than the collection in the
garment's hometown of Guizhou, according to Lei Xiuwu, researcher
of Miao and Dong ethnic culture in southeastern Guizhou.
Within 100 years, said Lei, "Chinese people may have to go
abroad if they want to study the Miao ethnic culture."
Plants are at issue, too. Gene "hunters" and folk art collectors
are among those looking to profit from China's unique flora, fauna
and cultural reserves.
Of the 20,140 plant resources that the United States was said to
have imported from China as of June 30, 2002, there were 4,452
varieties of soybean, including 168 wild strains.
However, only 2,177 plants were approved for export by the
Chinese authorities as of that date, and wild soybeans were not
even on the list, according to Wu Xiaoqing, deputy head of the
State Environmental Protection Administration.
That explains why China, the native home for soybeans and more
than 90 percent of the global wild soybean resources, is now the
world's largest importer of the crop. Other countries have patented
the majority of China's soybean resources.
In addition, Japan has patented 210 prescriptions listed in two
ancient Chinese medical books.
To curb these practices, which many in China consider to be a
form of theft, experts from the Provincial Academy of Social
Sciences and local universities have spent nearly two years in the
field doing research in more than 40 counties while they drew up
the rules.
The draft is now subject to comments and revisions before it is
submitted to the local legislature for approval in the second
quarter of next year.
The regulation stipulates that any foreign organization or
individual who studies, uses or develops traditional knowledge
concerning genetic material without the approval of the owners,
must pay between 50,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan (13,500 U.S. dollars)
in compensation.
The regulation is aimed at protecting Chinese traditional
technologies, folk literature and art, and biological traditional
knowledge that has been passed down through the generations but now
holds commercial value.
It also has clear rules concerning the development,
administration, and profit distribution of traditional knowledge
and punishment for IP infringement.
"Guizhou has made a significant attempt toward slowing the
outflow of China's valuable traditional heritage," said Yao.
Even if the regulations pose unanticipated problems, the
exercise can still be a good lesson for other local and even
state-level authorities when it comes to future legislation, said
Yao.
Some national authorities are studying the feasibility of a
national law to protect traditional knowledge.
The provincial regulation will improve the awareness of IP
protection among the custodians of traditional knowledge and help
those living in underdeveloped regions to win reasonable benefits,
according to An Shouhai, vice director with Guizhou Provincial
Intellectual Property Rights Bureau.
Many developing countries have been trying to protect their
traditional knowledge based on the IP system -- for example,
Thailand, India and Egypt have passed local or state-level
laws.
But some people in developing countries say modern laws aren't
much good when it comes to protecting informally transmitted
traditional knowledge. Instead, they have advocated binding
international agreements to protect these arts and
technologies.
(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2007)