
This paper aims to discuss patent law and the issue of traditional knowledge associated with biodiversity through an empirical qualitative study. In this context, we resort to the critical approach developed by Zenon Bankowski on Law and love as well as Charles Taylor’s analysis of modern identity. The study was composed of an analysis of international treaties and domestic laws as well as data collected at the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) website regarding the plant Bauhinia sp. and its therapeutic use. In addition, by analyzing the data collected in the course of the empirical study, we drew descriptive and casual inferences about the research question and the hypothesis, emphasizing the indispensability of the protection of traditional knowledge associated with traditional people. Finally, supported by the data collected in the study, it is possible to state that international agreements should be reviewed and, specifically, the interpretation of what traditional knowledge is should be modified, in order to avoid biopiracy and the invisibility of traditional peoples.