Speech of Hon'ble Mr. Justice Vijender Jain, Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh in a Seminar of Asia Pacific Jurist Association (apja) on “safeguarding the Traditional Knowledge in India” on 28.04.2008 in Delhi

Traditional Knowledge (TK) is essentially culturally oriented or culturally based, and it is integral to the cultural identity of the social group in which it operates and is preserved. “Traditional knowledge” is an open-ended way to refer to tradition-based literary, artistic or scientific works; performances; inventions; scientific discoveries; designs; marks, names and symbols; undisclosed information; and all other tradition-based innovations and creations resulting from intellectual activity. The definition of traditional knowledge used by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) includes indigenous knowledge relating to categories such as agricultural knowledge, medicinal knowledge, biodiversityrelated knowledge, and expressions of folklore in the form of music, dance, song, handicraft, designs, stories and artwork.