Intellectual Property Perspectives of Women’s Traditional Knowledge in Bangladesh

This paper claims that, though the mass commercialization of traditional knowledge-goods have brought positive changes to the lives of millions of poor female artisans, misappropriation of traditional ingenuity by giant dealers and middlemen have also thwarted huge potentials including exploitation of economic returns of intellectual property of the traditional artists. The paper has found, through the value chain of traditional knowledge-based goods e.g. handicrafts, intermediaries ride-on the intellectual property of the female artisans on the ground. While generally giving in to the proposition that TK could not be protected under intellectual property, this paper cites some models for protection of traditional ingenuity within the rubrics of intellectual property and TK. This paper concludes with a demand of equitable benefit sharing by the intermediaries and buyers unless they acknowledge the intellectual property rights of the traditional artisans