Traditional knowledge hot item for patents. (Bio Talk).

Northern Ontario Business introduces the first in a series of articles looking at the economics of bio-products.

Canadian Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) was born out of a need to support the creators and innovators of new ideas and knowledge through patents, trademarks, copyrights and secrecy. But today, a federal property expert is witnessing an increase in the number of prospectors searching for a piece of Aboriginal traditional knowledge.

Developing countries around the world are accessing the traditional knowledge, and sharing resources, says Jock Langford, senior policy analyst for intellectual property rights in the biodiversity convention office.

"That is what is driving the work in our office," he adds.

"That is why this is becoming a trade issue, becoming a property issue and becoming an environmental issue internationally."

"These issues are much bigger internationally than they are in Canada," he says.

Langford was a speaker at the Central Canada Boreal Summit and Expo 2003 in Timmins in May.

In Canada, the Aboriginal use of patents is not widely used, Langford says. Patents, for Native customs and medicines, remain for the most part unregistered, mostly because of the high cost attributed to them. In the new age of bio-products, prospectors are actively looking for the traditional knowledge for the purpose of patenting.

"That is something you should be aware of and do not think it is just about plants and animals. There seems to be a lot of activity targeting micro-organism bacteria."

John Craig, legal analyst with the Intellectual Property Policy Directorate, says that although there are bits and pieces of laws that aid Aboriginals in protecting their heritage, there is no special protection for First Nations and Aboriginal groups wanting to preserve traditional knowledge from patentees.

"What I would advise Aboriginal communities to do is to be cautious when sharing information."

Patents are sought for the purpose of acquiring certain rights over new knowledge and to protect new products, and processes from "free riders," Craig says.

Whoever gets to the patent office first obtains the patent, provided they can prove they have developed the idea.

Therefore, the only way Aboriginals are able to protect their heritage is "to use secrecy until decisions are made at the community level," Langford adds.

Even if the community decides to proceed with a patent, "any traditional knowledge will eventually become public," Langford explains.

Once the patent is granted it gives the innovators and creators exclusive national rights to their idea or knowledge. Any unauthorized person using rights without consent could be charged.

Other countries are facing similar issues.

For example, Mexican farmers had exported yellow/green enola beans to the United States for decades, Langford explains. In 1994, a United States seed firm purchased a bag of Mexican beans and then obtained a U.S. patent on yellow beans.

"They went and bought plant patent and plant variety rights in the United States."

In 2001, a suit was filed against several U.S. farmers and seed companies from Mexico.

"This is why Mexico is upset," Langford says. "They lost an export market. Intellectual property, they think, is wrong because they think it should be theirs and they didn't get any benefit sharing from the patent."

Patents are not the only areas of contention. Algonquin Natives may run into resistance when marketing their medicinal bio-products, since a company bought the rights to the Algonquin name, Langford adds.

Algonquin is a registered trademark within Molson Inc., who purchased Algonquin Breweries.

"(Molson's) now own trademarks on a number of brands of beer that use the word Algonquin (e.g. Algonquin Honey Lager Ale)," he says.

"The Algonquin First Nations is not an owner of any trademarks on beer to my knowledge."

So how will Canada implement protection for Aboriginal knowledge? Other countries have developed national access laws to include traditional knowledge within it.

"Australia has implemented a national access law and they have done it based on the control over Crown land," Lanford explains. "That may be one model that could happen in Canada."

Another direction is for the state to own all the genetic resources in the country of origin, he says.

Back in Ottawa, Craig is looking into identifying Aboriginal concerns pertaining to their" intangible cultural heritage."

"The primary issues relate more to the protection of culture than dealing with patents," Craig says.

Currently he is at the fact-finding stage where workshops are organized to inform Aboriginals on the nature of intellectual property rights.

"We want to demystify (property rights)," Craig adds.

At the same time he can then hear community concerns and determine which issues relate to intellectual property policy.

"We sort out (concerns) where there are solutions or where there could be solutions from areas where there are no solutions," Craig says.

This is a long-term project the government began three years ago. It will take several years of information sessions to target problem areas, Craig explains.

"We do not anticipate any kind of legislative reforms in the near future."