Intellectual Property Series (Volume 13)

Author: Zheng Chengsi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: The contents of this volume of essays seem to involve two unrelated parts, but in reality, the relationship between them is very close. At the same time, studying both of them is extremely important. In October 2005, indigenous people in the forests of Cambodia raised the generational legend of "forests coexisting with deities" to prevent the government from excessively logging forests under the guise of "public interest." This was scoffed at by Cambodian officials as "superstitious nonsense," but it was supported by international environmental organizations. Unfortunately, Cambodia ultimately failed to stop the excessive logging of its forests. Many years ago, the same legend was also retold by residents in some forest areas of our country. However, some forests no longer exist (such as the Greater and Lesser Xing'an Mountains), while others survived the logging. In 2004, I visited Baimang Snow Mountain and Meili Snow Mountain and saw the remaining primeval forests at the foot of the mountains, and heard the same legend. I found the legend beautiful and was convinced that it should be passed down forever, just like the forests it protected. I do not approve of superstition (whether towards gods or people), but I deeply admire the wisdom and courage of the generations of forest protectors. Without their wisdom and courage, our homeland, our Earth, would likely be in a much different state today. This is also why I strongly agree with the part of the 2002 report by the UK Intellectual Property Commission that supports the protection of traditional knowledge in developing countries; and this is also why I cannot understand why many scholars in our country only discuss the critical part of the World Trade Organization's intellectual property agreement in the report while avoiding the part that protects traditional knowledge.