Collective knowledge protection

By Espinosa Bellido Abogados

In the first half the year, the Peruvian IP Office (Indecopi) has granted 364 collective knowledge registration titles to eight native communities. The registrations are related to the uses and properties of approximately 150 biological resources for food, medicinal, textile and spiritual use.

"The importance of this protection mechanism is that, if any local or international company or laboratory wants to use such knowledge for the manufacture of products, it must have the strict authorization from the community and comply with an economic retribution”, stated the Indecopi in a press release.

From 2006 to the first semester of 2018, Indecopi has granted 5,257 titles of collective knowledge records to various communities, both peasant and native.