What is Traditional Knowledge and how far is it protected in the UK?
Standard YouTube Licence Jane Lambert On Easter day the Intellectual Property Office tweeted The modern #Easter egg owes its development to Van Houten’s invention of a press for separating cocoa butter from the cocoa bean in 1828. pic.twitter.com/PwcaaxMG4O — IPO.GOV.UK (@The_IPO) April 1, 2018 Chocolate came from the New World and its properties were discovered by the indigenous peoples of the American continent. It is a good example of what we would nowadays call "traditional knowledge." According to the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO") traditional knowledge is a living body of knowledge passed on from generation to generation within a community which often forms part of a people’s cultural and spiritual identity. Its traditional knowledge and intellectual property background brief explains: "The current international system for protecting intellectual property was fashioned during the age of industrialization in the West...