India is attempting to protect its history from being patented by foreign corporations:
‘In 1994 an American company was granted a patent for a product based on the seeds of the need tree, an item that had for centuries been used in India as an insecticide. It took the Indian authorities more than 10 years to have the patent overturned. Similar battles were fought over a product based on the spice turmeric – traditionally used to heal wounds – as well as a Texan company’s attempt to trademark its strain of rice as “Texmati”.
…Under international guidelines, patents should not be given if it is shown there is “prior knowledge” or existing information about the product or item. In the United States – where many of the patent applications have been made – this prior existing knowledge is only recognised if the information has been written down. It does not consider information passed down for centuries by means of oral tradition to be valid.
…One high-profile case involved Los Angeles-based Bikram Choudhury, the self-styled “yoga teacher to the stars”. Mr Choudhury, who moved to America in the 1970s, first obtained a copyright for a book he wrote. But when other teachers began copying the way he taught yoga – with 26 specific poses performed in a room heated to 41C (105F) – he sought legal advice and was told to obtain a copyright for the moves themselves. It has been recognised by the US courts despite India’s objections’
Full story in the Independent