Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, and the Honey Bee Network

After leaving India in May I traveled to Taiwan where I spoke at three universities on various topics of American law.  I was only one part of this peripatetic lecture series.  Accompanying me were Seshan Radha from NLU-Jodhpur and her husband, Amar Singh, who is on the faculty at the National Law University in Delhi, as well as the Vice-Chancellor of NLU-Delhi, Rambir Singh.  Each of us had our sthick, so to speak, and Amar's was how the ever-growing TRIPS ("trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights") regime was unfair to possessors of traditional knowledge whose insights were appropriated by Western pharmaceutical firms without fair compensation.  I have my doubts.  Most traditional knowledge isn't knowledge, and the costs (and risks) of turning what is true into something marketable are enormous.

In any event, check the link below for an interview with the founder of an Indian organization that has combined the best of both worlds by identifying tens of thousands of valuable pieces of traditional knowledge and connecting them with firms that are able to develop and market products to the benefit of the rural poor and the suppliers of the needed capital:
Questions and Answers: Prof. Anil Kumar Gupta - WSJ.com