Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge: A Case of Kenya

This research investigates the extent to which the current intellectual property legal framework protects traditional knowledge. In particular this study analyses how the protection of traditional knowledge could impact development in developing countries. By drawing from the experiences in Kenya, this research will examine traditional knowledge as juxtaposed to intellectual property, explore the different forms of traditional knowledge, highlight how traditional knowledge has been and continues to be misappropriated by the developed world and propose alternative frameworks for the protection of traditional knowledge based on the best practices used worldwide. This research is important and timely as the world is currently undergoing an information revolution which is transforming both society and the economy into an 'information society' in which control over knowledge has replaced control over matter as the ultimate source of power. Increasingly, knowledge and information are seen as important resources; ownership of which confers competitive advantage. Unfortunately, developing nations such as Kenya have failed to realize just how lucrative traditional knowledge could be. This paper also argues that nations from the Global North have continued to exploit traditional knowledge resources from nations in the Global South -as in the cases of traditional medicine, folklore, traditional seed- due to the problematic nature of the TRIPs agreement. This paper reveals that because of the problems with the TRIPs agreement and the failure of developing countries to adopt a legal framework that protects traditional knowledge, the developed world continues to exploit the resources of the developing states. Data for the analysis of this problem will be collected from secondary sources.