The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and IP Australia have entered into an Agreement on access to CSIR’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (CSIR-TKDL) during the 3rd India–Australia Annual Summit held in Melbourne, Australia, on 9 July 2026. The Agreement was concluded in the presence of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, and the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Anthony Albanese MP.
The TKDL Access Agreement is one of the eighteen key outcomes of the bilateral discussions held during the Summit, which covered a wide range of areas including defence and security, energy security, education, skill development, science and technology, film-making, traditional knowledge, and repatriation of cultural properties.
The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a first-of-its-kind prior art database, has been developed by India to prevent the misappropriation of its rich traditional knowledge through the erroneous grant of patents. Under the Agreement, IP Australia will gain access to the TKDL database to identify relevant prior art while examining patent applications in accordance with Australia’s patent laws and examination procedures. The Agreement will facilitate more informed and efficient patent examination while helping prevent the grant of patents on knowledge that is already part of India’s documented traditional heritage.
India and Australia are both home to rich indigenous knowledge systems, traditional practices and cultural expressions that have evolved over centuries and are vulnerable to misappropriation. The signing of the Agreement reflects the shared commitment of both countries to safeguarding traditional knowledge and strengthening intellectual property systems through effective use of documented prior art.
The implementation of the Agreement will be overseen by Mr. Andrew Wilkinson, Commissioner of Patents, IP Australia; Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Director General, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR; and Dr. Viswajanani J. Sattigeri, Scientist-H and Head, CSIR-TKDL Unit.
About TKDL
The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (CSIR-TKDL), established in 2001 by the Government of India through a collaborative initiative of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ministry of AYUSH, is the world’s first database dedicated to the defensive protection of traditional knowledge. Developed to prevent the erroneous grant of patents based on Indian traditional knowledge, the CSIR-TKDL currently contains information on over 5.2 lakh formulations and practices from Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Yoga, translated into five international languages—English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish—for use by patent examiners worldwide. With the signing of the Agreement with IP Australia, eighteen patent offices now have access to the database under Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). The CSIR-TKDL has played a significant role in safeguarding India’s traditional knowledge, contributing to more than 375 patent applications worldwide being revoked, rejected, amended, withdrawn or abandoned based on prior art evidence from the database.
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