Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is a collaborative project of the Department of AYUSH and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and is being implemented by CSIR through National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR). The main objective of this globally renowned project is to prevent misappropriation of India’s rich heritage of traditional medical knowledge. Since, the traditional knowledge of Unani system exists in languages such as Arabic and Persian, it is not understood by Patent Examiners in the International Patent Offices (IPOs). The TKDL acts as a bridge between the local languages and the International Patent Examiners and will help in preventing the misappropriation taking place at IPOs. For creation of the TKDL database, a classification tool, called the Traditional Knowledge Resource Classification (TKRC) was created. This tool will not only enable the data entry into the software using Unicode, but will also help the Patent examiners in data retrieval since concordance has been developed between TKRC and International Patent Classification (IPC). The Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine was entrusted to coordinate the development of TKDL for Unani system by the Department of AYUSH. Activities under TKDL for Unani system was initiated in June 2004. In the first phase, 1,12,500 formulations collected from 14 Unani classical books having 42 volumes which were in Urdu Arabic and Persian language were identified. Out of these 1,12,100 formulations scanned and 1,08,650 formulations edited and verified by the eminent Unani experts. Once the database is developed this will be translated into different international languages such as English, German, Japanese, French and Spanish and will be made available for prior art search by patent examiners at international level.

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