In recent literature calls have been heard for an international framework to facilitate (better) protection of Traditional Knowledge, in the form of an Intellectual Property (IP) right. Amongst others WIPO, and the WTO (within the TRIPS treaty) have been mentioned as possible forums for this. This paper analyses whether these forums would be suitable to deal with this issue, or whether it might be more e ective if states dealt with it in their domestic legal systems.

As a vast number of states dealing with Traditional Knowledge are bound by the standards laid down in TRIPS, this might favour the balance towards an international forum to tackle the issue. Also, the fact that the geographical areas indigenous peoples are linked to do not always coincide with national borders, might tip the scales towards an international forum.

However, the relative newness of such a protection, and the lack of consensus on the form this protection would take (whether it could be tted in the existing IP frameworks or a sui generis right would have to be created), tend to favour the balance of letting states come up with their own forms of Traditional Knowledge protection, and let the international community learn from that to nd the optimal form. This paper concludes that while starting international work on a global database listing Traditional Knowledge and owners of the Traditional Knowledge IP rights could be valuable, the actual development of Traditional Knowledge protection in IP can and should best be left to domestic legislators.