The present thesis intends to analyze the relationship between traditional knowledge (TK) and intellectual property (IP), especially the use of the IP system as a means of protecting and adding value to the products and services derived from traditional knowledge. Based on an analysis of attempts to classify TK over time by authors and scholars of sociology, anthropology, and law, and also noting the provisions of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), the Brazilian industrial property law (Law No. 9279/96), the Brazilian law No. 13123/15, which internalized the CBD, as well as several other international treaties in regards to this matter, it is possible to state that there is no consensus on the concept of TK and that the international legal framework for the protection of this knowledge is incomplete and fragmented. The application of IP system has positive and negative aspects, however it is still more desirable than the benefit sharing system itself, in which traditional peoples are merely rewarded for the use of their knowledge and are not seen as authors/owners of IP rights. Thus, we conclude that (i) the inclusion of traditional peoples as active subjects of rights is an urgent matter; (ii) the regulation of TK must be done from an inside out perspective; and (iii) the standardization of TK is complex and demands alternative forms of protection (sui generis mechanisms), beyond the IP system.