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The Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) created an online searchable database of traditional ecological knowledge to prevent private companies from patenting that knowledge. The Traditional Ecological Knowledge Prior Art Database (T.E.K.*P.A.D.) is located at http://ip.aaas.org/tekpad. 

Indigenous people all over the world have systematically cultivated plants and developed methods of using them for the benefit of their communities. Companies from the developed world have in some cases patented this traditional knowledge without the permission of the indigenous communities. The patents allow the holders to control the use and sale of the subject of the patent for a period of time, without any obligation to share profits with indigenous communities. In fact, the patent holder might even in some cases be able to prevent those communities from using or benefiting from their own knowledge.

The database helps to end this by promoting indigenous knowledge that is already in the public domain as prior art. An invention can be patented only if it is new, useful and not obvious. If the invention or the knowledge has been published somewhere it is demonstrably not new. This is one form of what is called prior art. Traditional knowledge has been vulnerable to patenting by outside corporations because it has rarely been published anywhere or if so, is often overlooked.

Once the information is added to the database it is more easily located by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other patenting authorities during prior art searches. AAAS actively researches traditional knowledge that is unprotected and in the public domain, then takes the information and adds it to the database to further protect it.

T.E.K.*P.A.D also allows people to submit entries. Individuals who submit entries must prove that they have prior consent from their communities. AAAS encourages communities to explore the issues associated with various options, including applying for patents themselves, before adding their knowledge to the database. A handbook developed to help communities evaluate their options is available at http://shr.aaas.org/tek/.

T.E.K.*P.A.D. currently protects 30,000 plants cultivated and managed by indigenous communities from patent exploitation.

When private corporations are allowed to hold patents on traditional knowledge that may form the basis of some communities’ livelihoods, those communities may lose their cultural and economic rights. When they are no longer allowed to use that knowledge, or are forced to pay royalties, their livelihoods and traditions may be irreparably destroyed. The use of a recording and publishing tactic helps prevent that from happening.

It is intriguing that technology is being used to protect indigenous peoples’ right to benefit from knowledge that is, in some cases, hundreds or thousands of years old. Online databases have also been used to build awareness of abuse, such as high levels of pollution in impoverished areas or widespread corruption, or to pressure for policy changes.