General

In overseas investment and trade of Chinese enterprises, it is necessary to raise awareness of traditional knowledge issues. Traditional knowledge is not only knowledge, but also involves the complex issues of intellectual property rights, international trade policy mechanisms and indigenous rights.

There is no unified definition of traditional knowledge. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) believes that traditional knowledge is a living knowledge system that develops, continues and is passed on from generation to generation within a community. A know-how, skill, innovation or practice, passed down from generation to generation, exists in a traditional context and forms part of the traditional way of life of a local or Aboriginal people.

In the overseas investment and international trade of Chinese enterprises, it is necessary to raise the awareness of traditional knowledge issues. Traditional knowledge is not only knowledge, but also involves the complex issues of intellectual property rights, international policy mechanisms and indigenous rights and interests. In the past, traditional knowledge has not been widely valued by the international community, and the first impression of people who mention traditional knowledge is outdated and backward. However, WIPO pointed out that traditional knowledge is not obsolete, it has strong vitality and great economic value. Now the international community has recognized the importance of traditional intellectual property protection, and relevant international instruments and mechanisms are gradually being established. WIPO has decided to seek final agreement in 2022-2023 on an international legal instrument (or instruments) on intellectual property that will ensure the balanced and effective protection of GRs, TK and TCEs. The recommendations adopted by the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework contain numerous provisions addressing traditional knowledge issues.

When investing overseas, Chinese enterprises should pay attention to the traditional knowledge rights and interests of local communities and aboriginal people, abide by the host country's regulations on traditional knowledge, and respect the customs and customs related to traditional knowledge of the communities where the investment is made. In the use and utilization of local traditional knowledge, attention should be paid to the sharing of benefits and benefits of traditional knowledge. The Convention on Biological Diversity states that many indigenous and local communities embodying traditional ways of life have close and traditional dependencies with biological resources and should share equitably from the use of traditional knowledge, innovations and benefits arising from the practice. Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity presented a global plan in June 2022, which is expected to be adopted by December 2022. One of the four key objectives of the framework is the equitable sharing of benefits from the use of biodiversity and genetic resources, respecting the traditional knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. Chinese companies face the risk of aboriginal risks in their overseas investments, and many investment projects have encountered opposition from local aborigines. Now indigenous groups have been actively participating in WIPO's related activities, demanding protection of intellectual property rights, and the rights and interests of indigenous peoples are also stipulated in relevant international instruments and indigenous national laws, which makes the rights and interests of indigenous traditional knowledge more complicated.

Overseas investment is inseparable from the regulation and protection of multilateral trade agreements. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement also stipulates the intellectual property protection of traditional knowledge. The contracting states are given the right to protect the traditional knowledge, and the contracting states can make certain reservations on traditional knowledge issues, for example, China has reserved the relevant rights to the traditional national craftsmanship.

my country has been exploring the property rights protection of traditional knowledge, and has already enacted legislation on some areas of traditional knowledge. The property rights protection of my country's traditional knowledge not only helps to safeguard its own rights and interests in international trade, but also empowers the revitalization of rural industries and ecological revitalization. In June 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Rural Revitalization Bureau "Notice on Promoting the High-quality Inheritance and Development of Traditional Crafts" pointed out that by 2025, traditional crafts will play a further role in cultivating traditional cultural industries and promoting rural revitalization, helping rural revitalization. At the twenty-fifth collective study of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in 2021, Xi Jinping emphasized the need to deepen the reform of the intellectual property protection work system and mechanism, study and implement differentiated industrial and regional intellectual property policies, and timely study and formulate protection in fields such as traditional culture and traditional knowledge. Method.

The intellectual property protection of traditional knowledge is ushering in a new round of international opportunities and challenges. In the future, there will be more international conventions, trade treaties and agreements involving traditional knowledge issues. This makes it necessary for Chinese enterprises to take into account the property rights protection of local traditional knowledge and the possible rights and interests of aboriginal traditional knowledge in overseas investment and international trade, and fully recognize the opportunities and risks involved. On the one hand, it is to take advantage of the development opportunities and investment benefits that local traditional knowledge may bring.