Sovereign and property rights over plant genetic resources

2015

Published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License * Senior research fellow, Fridtjof Nansen Institute. Tvedt has published extensively in the area of biological resources law and intellectual property in recent years (see www.fni.no for a complete list of publications). The most important monograph regarding genetic resources he co-authored with Tomme R. Young, Beyond Access:Exploring Implementation of the Fair and Equitable Sharing Commitment in the CBD. IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper No. 67/1 (available in English, Spanish and French, www.fni.no/publ/biodiversity.html). Tvedt is currently working on a monograph on patent law and the sui generis option in the plant sector for developing countries. He wants to thank Professor Trygve Berg at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences for valuable comments and discussions, and Research Professor G. Kristin Rosendal for useful input. The research for this article was funded by the Norwegian Research Council under the ELSA Programme and forms part of the three-year project 'Biotechnology in agriculture and aquaculture-effects of intellectual property rights in the food production chain'. The same topic is presented in the section by Tvedt in Medaglia and others. The Interface between the Nagoya Protocol on ABS and the ITPGRFA at the International Level-Potential Issues for Consideration in Supporting Mutually Supportive Implementation at the National Level.

Plant Physiology, 2004

2019

Plant genetic resources constitute the biological foundation of humankind. Research systems and agricultural production also depend on them. Plant genetic resources result from natural evolution and human intervention, and are considered patrimony of the nations. Although their conservation, use and exchange are among the objectives of the Convention of Biological Diversity and have been recognized internationally, the threats against their safety continue to increase. This bibliography, which contains work published all over the world since 1984, intends to contribute to IPGRI's goal on plant genetic resources policy. It contains 433 references with local descriptors. The records are organized in 2 subjects-access to plant genetic resources (91) and intellectual property rights (342). It includes references on the status of intellectual property rights in several countries, the application of farmers' rights to local varieties and the consequences of limiting access in the ...

2003

Ajai, O. 1995. Regulating access to Nigeria's genetic resources: Issues in the emergent law and implications of article 15 of the Convention of Biological diversity for national legislation. Paper present at the Global Biodiversity Forum,

The Journal of World Intellectual Property, 2007

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) entered into force in 2004. It is the most recent piece in the current regime complex on plant genetic resources. However, wherever there are several legally binding international agreements dealing with at least partially overlapping issues, a conflict between them may arise. Such conflicts narrow the leeway that parties to more than one of the treaties have for implementation and may thus also reduce the treaties' potential for reaching their objectives. Against this backdrop, this article investigates the legal relationships between the ITPGRFA, on the one hand, and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on the other. It arrives at the conclusion that there are no conflicts between the ITPGRFA and any of those treaties at present, while negotiations conducted currently in the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization and the CBD need carefully to avoid creating such legal conflicts.

Journal of International Biotechnology Law, 2004

Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 2004

A key controversy in negotiating the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and the likely long-term effectiveness of the agreement, is the way in which the intellectual property provisions are interpreted and applied to the key genetic resources forming the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) system of International Agricultural Research Centres' (IARC) collections. This paper reviews the intellectual property provisions in the treaty and examines the likely consequences from patenting under the Patents Act 1990 over materials derived from these collections. The consequence is argued to be significant and, over time, these practices are likely to deplete the usefulness of these collections and undermine the relevance of the treaty. The paper concludes that Australia's interests might best be served by arguing that access to these collections, and the other materials under the treaty, be subject to a non-exclusive, royalty free licence for any use of the derived materials to develop useful new plant varieties. A R 0 3 1 6 1 C . L a ws o n V i e w p o i n t

Review of European Community and International Environmental Law, 1993

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2005

fi eld.org.uk "Wuppertal Papers" are discussion papers. Their purpose is to introduce, at an early stage, certain aspects of the Wuppertal Institute's work to interested parties and to initiate critical discussions. The Wuppertal Institute considers its scientifi c quality as important, however, it does not essentially identify itself with the content. 3. IPRs, biodiversity and traditional knowledge The case of the San people and the hoodia plant: Biodiversity, traditional knowledge and IPRs in Southern Africa The case of Bt cotton in India: GMOs, decision-making and multinational corporations 4. International governance of biodiversity and intellectual property rights 4.1 The CBD and IPRs 4.2 CBD and WIPO 4.2.1 Key positions at the IGC 4.3 WTO and CBD 4.3.1 Main positions on the protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge 4.3.2 Positions on the relationship between TRIPS and the CBD: 4.3.3 NGO positions 4.4 Plant varieties for food and agriculture: UPOV, TRIPS and the FAO Treaty 4.4.1 The African Model Law 4.5 Current trends in IPR policy: the misuse of bilateral free trade agreements

2010

See for example Elfrieda Pschorn-Strauss and Rachel Wynberg 'The seeds of neo-colonialism: genetic engineering in food and farming' (2002) GroundWork, and Mariam Mayet 'The new green revolution in Africa: Trojan horse for GMOs?' (2007). 17 See in this regard the European Group on Ethics in Science and new Technologies to the European Commission 'Ethics of modern developments in agriculture technologies Opinion No 24' (17 December 2008) and the COGEM Report 'Socio-economic aspects of GMOs: building blocks for an EU sustainability assessment of genetically modified crops' CGM/090929-01. 18 This is referred to as the concept of dual knowledge in which a single 'discovery' may contribute to both scientific research and to a useful commercial application. Dual knowledge is often exploited in what is known as patent-paper pairs in which a publication is coupled with the patent. Empirical research shows a citation rate decline for such papers after formal IP rights have been granted, thus suggesting that IP rights may have a negative impact on the diffusion of scientific knowledge. Murray, Fiona and Stern, Scott 'Do formal intellectual property rights hinder the free flow of scientific knowledge? An empirical test of the anti-commons hypothesis' (2007) 63 Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organization 648-687. The pursuit of a dual knowledge strategy was enabled in the US by the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 and is likely to become the practice in South Africa once the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act 51 of 2008 becomes operational. Researchers in the developing world already face a host of barriers to effective research. See for example Forero-Pineda, Clemente and Jaramillo-Salazar, Hernan 'The access of researchers from developing countries to international science and technology' (2002) 54 International Social Science Journal 129-140. '[P]lant germplasm is a resource that reproduces itself, and a single 'taking' of germplasm could provide the material base upon which whole new sectors of production could be elaborated.' Jack R Kloppenburg First the seed: the political economy of plant biotechnology (1988) at 154 cited in 'Weeds, seeds & deeds' (note 25) at 262. 28 Mgbeoji questions the applicability of the common heritage concept during the colonial era, as the 'transfer of germ plasm from the colony to the mother country was more or less perceived as "an internal affair" of the colonial empires'. Ikechi Mgbeoji 'Beyond rhetoric: state sovereignty, common concern, and the inapplicability of the common heritage concept to plant genetic resources' (2003) 16 Leiden Journal of International Law 821 at 823. 29 The implications of the burgeoning regime for developing countries and for public sector research are discussed in Wright and Pardey 'Changing IP regimes: implications for developing country agriculture' (2006) 2 Int J Technology and Globalisation 93-114. broader environment (soil, water supply, etc). 37 From a social and economic perspective, there are concerns about food security and safety, cultural heritage, freedom of choice, and economic welfare. 38 These concerns are diverse and are often regulated in seemingly discreet areas of law which together spin an intricate web of rules, a complex regulatory regime, around PGRs. 39 1.2.2 A complex regulatory regime A proliferation of international organisations and instruments over the past few decades has given rise to 'an array of partially overlapping and nonhierarchical institutions governing a particular issue-area.' 40 These 'regime complexes' are in turn reflected in the provisions of domestic law.