The researchers analyzed a sample of

A But there was a decrease in herbal patent filing starting in the early s. “WE STARTED ASKING OURSELVES WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE PIRACY ” Based on the surnames of patentees the researchers found that a disproportionate number of herbal patents were granted to scientists of Indian origin who had migrated to the US or Europe. In fact an herbal medicine patent was percent more likely to be authored by someone with an Indian surname than was a similar control patent.

It s a great example of first generation immigrants carrying very contextual knowledge from their home countries to their host countries and the western lab benefiting from that Choudhury says of the findings. It illustrates the mobility of human capital leading to knowledge transfer. Patents Without Pirates But the findings raised an uncomfortable question Chinese Overseas America Number Data Were these immigrants hurting their home countries exploiting indigenous communities for the benefit of their new employers in the West And a more hopeful question Were there cases in which Western firms and rural Indian societies shared the licensing fees from herbal patents We started asking ourselves why does it have to be piracy Choudhury says. If an indigenous society has discovered medicinal uses of an herb and if a Western firm can go in there and share the rents with the society the patent might be a good thing.



As a member of the indigenous society you may be sitting on a fortune but you don t know how to commercialize it.  case studies in which Western firms secured patents for traditional herbal remedies from all over the world. These included Colorado State University s patent for quinoa the school let the patent lapse in following complaints from Bolivia s National Association of Quinoa Producers Houston based Rice Tec s patents involving basmati rice the firm withdrew several claims after public opposition and the aforementioned turmeric patent. They then developed in depth cases to illustrate win win win lose and lose lose scenarios regarding herbal patents.