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This article aims to develop a legal empirical research about the relationship between Patents, Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge. The object of this research is Psychotria ipecacuanha, also known as
Poaia, a plant with exceptional clinical qualities and of great importance for Brazilian economical exploitation during colonization. Taking into account the international treaties such as TRIPS and CBD, we verified whether these treaties interfere in the process of biopiracy against the traditional knowledge holders.
Therefore, using an empirical research methodology, patents related to Poaia were collected in WIPO’s
database, from which five requests were selected. Furthermore, from the inferences developed based on Bankowski’s theory regarding the relationship between Law and Love, on Axel Honneth’s theory of struggle for recognition, and on the data collected, it is possible to conclude that the legalism of patent legal system fails to build a relationship of true recognition between traditional communities and the western culture.