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Article 251: The registration of traditional knowledge may be revoked by the courts at any
time at the request of the Industrial Property Director or a third party with a
legitimate interest, if:
- the traditional knowledge registered has not been created by the community
which the certificate designates as the owner; in the event that the traditional
knowledge registered was created by another local community, the court may
order the Industrial Property Director to transfer the title of ownership to this
traditional knowledge to its true creator;
- the traditional knowledge registered has been disclosed to the public by some
means, and has been commercially or industrially exploited in Burundi prior
to the date on which registration was sought;
- the traditional knowledge registered has lost its value as a cultural identifier
following its explicit abandonment, lack of persistent use or continued abuse
by third parties, of which the holder of the traditional knowledge was aware.
Article 252: Any element of traditional knowledge protected under this Law may be
registered separately and individually, in accordance with its technical
characteristics, without prejudice to its holistic nature, that is, independent
traditional knowledge, or as a whole, in its entirety, in a single registration
combining, as the case may be, all of the elements of the knowledge.
The certificate of registration shall specify whether the registered traditional
knowledge has been identified by the local community as independent
traditional knowledge or as an inventory of traditional knowledge. In the latter
case, the certificate shall contain a brief summary of the protected content of the
inventory, in accordance with the regulations under this Law.
Article 253: Notice of the grant of a certificate of registration for traditional knowledge shall
be published in the Official Journal of Burundi, without prejudice to the
provisions of Article 254. Such notice shall include at least the following
information:
1. A summary of the traditional knowledge registered, unless the local
community seeking registration has opted for secrecy, as provided for in
Article 254;
2. A reference to the community or communities that has/have created the
traditional knowledge registered; such a reference must be accompanied by
an indication of the geographical distribution of the community in question
and the intrinsic characteristics which differentiate it;
3. The application and registration dates.
Article 254: When it files an application for registration of the traditional knowledge, the
local community may inform the Industrial Property Director that it has opted to
keep secret all or part of the elements for which it is seeking protection. The