India builds $2M digital archive

Tired of fighting patent applications for traditional remedies and exercises, India is building a digital library to document the intellectual property that has been thus far passed down through oral tradition.

" 'We do not want anyone selling our own knowledge to us,' says Ajay Dua, a top bureaucrat in the Department of Industrial Policy and Planning, which oversees intellectual-property rights. 'Also, we would like anyone using our traditional knowledge to acknowledge that it is from India.' "

The project is expected to span 30 million pages at a cost of $2 million.
[India: Breathe in, and hands off our yoga]

Filed under India, intellectual property