On the other hand, there is a natural wish for some return. This includes not only a wish for some benefit, whether financial or non-financial, but also for credit or acknowledgment for contributing to the final product.
The intellectual property laws do not protect traditional knowledge adequately, so as to ensure benefit sharing with and credit to the concerned community. India is presently considering certain legislative and other measures to safeguard these rights. The main legislative measures are the Biological Diversity Bill, 2000, the Patents (Second Amendment) Bill, 1999 and the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001. .
The knowledge holder may be a source of biological material (where the medicinal plant itself is obtained) or a source of knowledge only (where information as to the properties of a plant is sufficient for research purposes as the plant is available from other sources), or both (where a plant sample as well as the information relating thereto is needed). Where biological material is sought to be obtained, the main protective framework is supplied by the legislation. Where reward for knowledge is in question, the protective framework in India involves both legislative and non-legislative measures. The protection for these two categories is therefore being dealt with separately. Where both the biological material and the knowledge pertaining there to are sought to be obtained, both forms of protection would be available. .
Biological material.
The purchase of plants in bulk to supply a manufacturing unit is increasingly uncommon, especially with the advent of biotechnology in the pharmaceutical field. Even where a plant source is essential, as when adequate synthetic substitutes are not available for a particular compound, the plant need not necessarily be purchased from the country where it originated, or even purchased from the country from which the sample was originally taken.