Sustainable Use and Legal Protection of Traditional Knowledge: A Comparative Study of India and Malaysia’s Sui Generis IPR And Biodiversity

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_32How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Access and Benefit Sharing; Biopiracy; Geographical Indications; Indigenous Communities; TKDL

Abstract

The paper compares the approaches taken by India and Malaysia to protect Traditional Knowledge without impeding innovation through their Intellectual Property and Biodiversity Laws. The paper employs doctrinal and comparative methods to examine India’s Biological Diversity Framework, including the Geographical Indication Act and its Traditional Knowledge Digital Library. It then looks into Malaysia’s system for access and benefit sharing and patent-related interfaces. The study finds that India’s Digital Library prevents others from making false patent claims as it makes community knowledge accessible during the prior art search process. On the other hand, Malaysia has a better-defined process for obtaining prior informed consent and includes community representation in the licensing process. The study prescribes a hybrid which combines documentation with involvement, taking the strengths of both models. The hybrid approach also suggests reciprocal examiner access between India, Malaysia, and interested ASEAN partners. It also features layered, consent-based data governance; a model license with measurable protection and Livelihood Indicators; and a standard framework for green technology research with simpler methods for registering complaints. The paper concludes that this hybrid, which focuses on people and sustainability, can further humanise the law and reduce the risk of biopiracy. It can further turn research partnerships into real benefits for communities and ecosystems in the Global South.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Animesh Pratap Singh
AU  - Kuldeep Kumar
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/07
TI  - Sustainable Use and Legal Protection of Traditional Knowledge: A Comparative Study of India and Malaysia’s Sui Generis IPR And Biodiversity
BT  - Proceedings of the UUM 13th International Legal Conference 2025 (UUMILC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 462
EP  - 480
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_32
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_32
ID  - Singh2026
ER  -