ABSTRACT

In preceding chapters, the need for a legal framework vesting the authority for management and regulation of ownership of traditional resources in the community has become clear, where management of those resources is according to customary laws. The discussion has established that conventional intellectual property regimes not only provide inadequate frameworks for the protection of traditional knowledge, given the restricting criteria for subject matter to fall within the categories of intellectual property, but also fundamentally transform the subject matter of protection in ways that make it incompatible with the interests of community.