ABSTRACT:
Intellectual property rights are the integral part of the progress of the knowledge base society and are also an indispensable element in the economic development in the global knowledge scenario. The various forms of intellectual property are patents, copyrights, trademark, trade secrets, geographical indications, industrial designs, integrated circuits etc. The importance of Intellectual Property system is recognized as an important and integral part of economic and social development indicator of any country and in Indian context it is imperative as India is a developing country, The main objective of intellectual property nghts is to transcend equitably the benefits to creators and users and to ensure equal pportunities among nations to enjoy the fruits of knowledge based progress. A property created out of the intellectual efforts is known as 'Intellectual Property (IP) The rights conferred on an individual by the State for a specified period for the creation of IP are known as 'Intellectual Property Rights' (IPR) In context to the present workshop as the state of Chhattisgarh has been designated as 'herbal state' with special emphasis on Ethnopharmacology IPR's role become more important. The turning point on the formal recognition of indigenous and traditional knowledge took place in 1988 at the at the first International Congress of Ethanobiology in Belem (Brazil) with the Declaration of Belem, which is embodied with the Code of Ethics of the International Society of Ethanobiology (DD. Soejarto et. al, 2005). Thus it becomes imperative that the work taken up may initially be screened for the existing Intellectual property in terms of indigenous medicinal knowledgetraditional medical knowledge (IMK/TMK) so that the newer/novel frontiers may be explored. Further the products generated and also the products existing primanily with the traditional healers, who have been using the medicinal values of many plants in the state should also be documented scientifically, so as to ensure protection of their rights in Intellectual Property context globally.