Legislating on biopiracy in Europe: too little, too late?

This Handbook considers the international struggle to provide for proper and just protection of Indigenous intellectual property. Leading scholars consider legal and policy controversies over Indigenous knowledge in the fields of international law, copyright law, trademark law, patent law, trade secrets law, and cultural heritage. This collection examines national developments in Indigenous intellectual property from around the world. As well as examining the historical origins of conflicts over Indigenous knowledge, the volume examines new challenges to Indigenous intellectual property from emerging developments in information technology, biotechnology, and climate change.

Ecology and bioprospecting

Bioprospecting is the exploration of biodiversity for new resources of social and commercial value. It is carried out by a wide range of established industries such as pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and agriculture as well as a wide range of comparatively new ones such as aquaculture, bioremediation, biomining, biomimetic engineering and nanotechnology. The benefits of bioprospecting have emerged from such a wide range of organisms and environments worldwide that it is not possible to predict what species or habitats will be critical to society, or industry, in the future. The benefits include an unexpected variety of products that include chemicals, genes, metabolic pathways, structures, materials and behaviours. These may provide physical blueprints or inspiration for new designs. Criticism aimed at bioprospecting has been addressed, in part, by international treaties and legal agreements aimed at stopping biopiracy and many activities are now funded by agencies that require capacity-building and economic benefits in host countries. Thus, much contemporary bioprospecting has multiple goals, including the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable management of natural resources and economic development. Ecologists are involved in three vital ways: first, applying ecological principles to the discovery of new resources. In this context, natural history becomes a vast economic database. Second, carrying out field studies, most of them demographic, to help regulate the harvest of wild species. Third, emphasizing the profound importance of millions of mostly microscopic species to the global economy.

Criminology and genetically modified food

Genetically modified or engineered foods are produced from rapidly expanding technologies that have sparked international debates and concerns about health and safety. These concerns focus on the potential dangers to human health, the risks of genetic pollution, and the demise of alternative farming techniques as well as biopiracy and economic exploitation by large private corporations. This article discusses the findings of the world's first Royal Commission on Genetic Modification conducted in New Zealand and reveals that there are potential social, ecological and economic risks created by genetically modified foods that require closer criminological scrutiny. As contemporary criminological discourses continue to push new boundaries in areas of crimes of the economy, environmental pollution, risk management, governance and globalization, the potential concerns posed by genetically modified foods creates fertile ground for criminological scholarship and activism.

The doomsday vault: Seed banks, food security, and climate change

"It could easily provide the back-drop for a James Bond movie. Deep inside a mountain near the North Pole, down a fortified tunnel, and behind airlocked doors in a vault frozen to -18 degrees Celsius, scientists are squirreling away millions of seed samples. The samples constitute the very foundation of agriculture, the biological diversity needed so the world's major food crops can adapt to the next pest or disease, or to climate change. It's little wonder that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault has captured the public's imagination more than almost any agricultural topic in recent years. Popular press reports about the ‘Doomsday Vault,’ however, typically mask the complexity of the endeavor and, if anything, underestimate its practical utility." Cary Fowler This chapter considers the use of seed banks to address concerns about intellectual property, climate change and food security. It has a number of themes. First of all, it is interested in the use of ‘Big Science’ projects to address pressing global scientific concerns and Millennium Development Goals. Second, it highlights the increasing use of banks as a means of managing both property and intellectual property across a wide range of fields of agriculture and biotechnology. Third, it considers the linkage of intellectual property, access to genetic resources and benefit sharing. There are a variety of positions in this debate. Some see requirements in respect of access to genetic resources and benefit sharing as an inconvenient burden for science and commerce. Others defend access to genetic resources and benefit sharing as meaningful and productive. Those inclined to somewhat more conspiratorial views suggest that access to genetic resources and benefit sharing are a ruse to facilitate biopiracy. This chapter has a number of components. Section I focuses upon the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) network – often raised as a model for Climate Innovation Centres. Section II considers the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – the so-called Doomsday Vault. After a consideration of the World Summit on Food Security in 2009, it is concluded in this chapter that any future international agreement on climate change needs to address intellectual property, plant genetic resources and food security.

The Sorcerer II expedition: Intellectual property and biodiscovery

This article considers the significance of a leading marine biodiscovery initiative. In March 2004, Dr. J. Craig Venter announced the official launch of the Sorcerer II Expedition, a scientific expedition of discovery, which would survey marine and terrestrial microbial populations. The Expedition has the potential to uncover tens of thousands of new microbial species and tens of millions of new genes. Venter has disavowed that the Sorcerer II Expedition has any commercial ambitions. However, some have viewed the Sorcerer II Expedition with suspicion. Various civil society groups have accused the Expedition of engaging in 'biopiracy'. This article investigates the Convention on Biological Diversity 1992 and other relevant international treaties, various national and regional regimes to govern access to genetic resources, and benefit-sharing agreements. It considers the intersection of intellectual property law, contract law, environmental law, and international law in this field. This article provides a blueprint for a nationally consistent scheme for access to genetic resources, and a model for future international developments.

Land grabs, bio-piracy and the inversion of justice in Colombia

The possibility of commercially exploiting plant, animal and human genetic resources unlocked by biotechnology has given rise to a wide range of cultural, environmental, ethical and economic conflicts. While supporters describe this activity as bioprospecting, critics refer to it as biopiracy. According to this latter view, international legal agreements and treaties have disregarded opposition and legalized the possibility of appropriating genetic resources and their derivative products through the use of patents. The legal framework that permits the appropriation of natural genetic products in Colombia also criminalizes aspects of traditional ways of life and enables a legally approved but socially harmful land-grabbing process. The article describes these processes and impact in terms of the inversion of justice and the erosion of environmental sustainability.

Indigenous Intellectual Property: A Handbook of Contemporary Research

Taking an interdisciplinary approach unmatched by any other book on this topic, this thoughtful Handbook considers the international struggle to provide for proper and just protection of Indigenous intellectual property (IP). In light of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007, expert contributors assess the legal and policy controversies over Indigenous knowledge in the fields of international law, copyright law, trademark law, patent law, trade secrets law, and cultural heritage. The overarching discussion examines national developments in Indigenous IP in the United States, Canada, South Africa, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. The Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the historical origins of conflict over Indigenous knowledge, and examines new challenges to Indigenous IP from emerging developments in information technology, biotechnology, and climate change. Practitioners and scholars in the field of IP will learn a great deal from this Handbook about the issues and challenges that surround just protection of a variety of forms of IP for Indigenous communities. Preface The Legacy of David Unaipon Matthew Rimmer Introduction: Mapping Indigenous Intellectual Property Matthew Rimmer PART I INTERNATIONAL LAW 1. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: A Human Rights Framework for Indigenous Intellectual Property Mauro Barelli 2. The WTO, The TRIPS Agreement and Traditional Knowledge Tania Voon 3. The World Intellectual Property Organization and Traditional Knowledge Sara Bannerman 4. The World Indigenous Network: Rio+20, Intellectual Property, Indigenous Knowledge, and Sustainable Development Matthew Rimmer PART II COPYRIGHT LAW AND RELATED RIGHTS 5. Government Man, Government Painting? David Malangi and the 1966 One-Dollar Note Stephen Gray 6. What Wandjuk Wanted Martin Hardie 7. Avatar Dreaming: Indigenous Cultural Protocols and Making Films Using Indigenous Content Terri Janke 8. The Australian Resale Royalty for Visual Artists: Indigenous Art and Social Justice Robert Dearn and Matthew Rimmer PART III TRADE MARK LAW AND RELATED RIGHTS 9. Indigenous Cultural Expression and Registered Designs Maree Sainsbury 10. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act: The Limits of Trademark Analogies Rebecca Tushnet 11. Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions within the New Zealand Intellectual Property Framework: A Case Study of the Ka Mate Haka Sarah Rosanowski 12 Geographical Indications and Indigenous Intellectual Property William van Caenegem PART IV PATENT LAW AND RELATED RIGHTS 13. Pressuring ‘Suspect Orthodoxy’: Traditional Knowledge and the Patent System Chidi Oguamanam, 14. The Nagoya Protocol: Unfinished Business Remains Unfinished Achmad Gusman Siswandi 15. Legislating on Biopiracy in Europe: Too Little, too Late? Angela Daly 16. Intellectual Property, Indigenous Knowledge, and Climate Change Matthew Rimmer PART V PRIVACY LAW AND IDENTITY RIGHTS 17. Confidential Information and Anthropology: Indigenous Knowledge and the Digital Economy Sarah Holcombe 18. Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Australia: The Control of Living Heritages Judith Bannister 19. Dignity, Trust and Identity: Private Spheres and Indigenous Intellectual Property Bruce Baer Arnold 20. Racial Discrimination Laws as a Means of Protecting Collective Reputation and Identity David Rolph PART VI INDIGENOUS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES 21. Diluted Control: A Critical Analysis of the WAI262 Report on Maori Traditional Knowledge and Culture Fleur Adcock 22. Traditional Knowledge Governance Challenges in Canada Jeremy de Beer and Daniel Dylan 23. Intellectual Property protection of Traditional Knowledge and Access to Knowledge in South Africa Caroline Ncube 24. Traditional Knowledge Sovereignty: The Fundamental Role of Customary Law in Protection of Traditional Knowledge Brendan Tobin Index

The Protection of Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources: The Role of Databases and Registers

"The Protection of Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources: The Role of Databases and Registers" ABSTRACT Yovana Reyes Tagle The misappropriation of TK has sparked a search for national and international laws to govern the use of indigenous peoples knowledge and protection against its commercial exploitation. There is a widespread perception that biopiracy or illegal access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge (TK) continues despite national and regional efforts to address this concern. The purpose of this research is to address the question of how documentation of TK through databases and registers could protect TK, in light of indigenous peoples increasing demands to control their knowledge and benefit from its use. Throughout the international debate over the protection of TK, various options have been brought up and discussed. At its core, the discussion over the legal protection of TK comes down to these issues: 1) The doctrinal question: What is protection of TK? 2) The methodological question: How can protection of TK be achieved? 3) The legal question: What should be protected? And 4) The policy questions: Who has rights and how should they be implemented? What kind of rights should indigenous peoples have over their TK? What are the central concerns the TK databases want to solve? The acceptance of TK databases and registers may bring with it both opportunities and dangers. How can the rights of indigenous peoples over their documented knowledge be assured? Documentation of TK was envisaged as a means to protect TK, but there are concerns about how documented TK can be protected from misappropriation. The methodology used in this research seeks to contribute to the understanding of the protection of TK. The steps taken in this research attempt to describe and to explain a) what has been done to protect TK through databases and registers, b) how this protection is taking place, and c) why the establishment of TK databases can or cannot be useful for the protection of TK. The selected case studies (Peru and Venezuela) seek to illustrate the complexity and multidisciplinary nature of the establishment of TK databases, which entail not only legal but also political, socio-economic and cultural issues. The study offers some conclusions and recommendations that have emerged after reviewing the national experiences, international instruments, work of international organizations, and indigenous peoples perspectives. This thesis concludes that if TK is to be protected from disclosure and unauthorized use, confidential databases are required. Finally, the TK database strategy needs to be strengthened by the legal protection of the TK itself.

Advancing biodiversity research in developing countries: the need for changing paradigms

The world is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, threatening essential goods and services on which humanity depends. While there is an urgent need globally for biodiversity research, growing obstacles are severely limiting biodiversity research throughout the developing world, particularly in Southeast Asia. Facilities, funding, and expertise are often limited throughout this region, reducing the capacity for local biodiversity research. Although western scientists generally have more expertise and capacity, international research has sometimes been exploitative ``parachute science,'' creating a culture of suspicion and mistrust. These issues, combined with misplaced fears of biopiracy, have resulted in severe roadblocks to biodiversity research in the very countries that need it the most. Here, we present an overview of challenges to biodiversity research and case studies that provide productive models for advancing biodiversity research in developing countries. Key to success is integration of research and education, a model that fosters sustained collaboration by focusing on the process of conducting biodiversity research as well as research results. This model simultaneously expands biodiversity research capacity while building trust across national borders. It is critical that developing countries enact policies that protect their biodiversity capital without shutting down international and local biodiversity research that is essential to achieve the long-term sustainability of biodiversity, promoting food security and economic development.

L’accès et le partage des avantages des savoirs traditionnels en Amérique latine : comment les droits de propriété intellectuelle peuvent empêcher la biopiraterie

Ce travail se situe dans la perspective des études sur la protection des savoirs traditionnels contre la biopiraterie commise par quelques industries pharmaceutiques et cosmétiques. Malgré le débat qui s’est déroulé à ce sujet après la signature de la Convention sur la diversité biologique, ces patrimoines culturels continuent d’être largement menacés. L’étude se propose d’analyser les mécanismes capables de protéger contre la biopiraterie les savoirs traditionnels associés à la biodiversité qui intéressent l’industrie pharmaceutique, et ce, par le biais des droits de propriété intellectuelle existants aussi bien à l’échelle internationale que dans le cadre des législations nationales. Ces mécanismes sont évalués quant à leur efficacité, en vue d’en identifier les plus intéressants, susceptibles d’être adoptés soit par des pays qui ne disposent pas encore de législation en matière de protection des savoirs traditionnels soit pour être utilisés dans le cadre international. Avec cet objectif, le présent travail dressera un panorama concernant la législation du Brésil, du Costa Rica et du Pérou. En outre, seront mises en exergue par la suite les différentes conventions en lien avec les savoirs traditionnels, à savoir la Convention sur la diversité biologique, le Protocole de Nagoya, le Comité intergouvernemental de la propriété intellectuelle relative aux ressources génétiques, aux savoirs traditionnels et au folklore de l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle. L’analyse menée a mis en lumière un certain nombre de dispositions assez efficaces pouvant être utilisées de façon optimale par des pays ne disposant pas de législation en matière de protection des savoirs traditionnels ou encore pouvant être intégrées dans des traités internationaux en la matière, afin de rendre lesdits traités plus efficaces sur le plan pratique. Bien plus, ladite analyse démontre que l’Accord sur les aspects des droits de propriété intellectuelle qui touchent au commerce est actuellement l’accord le plus coercitif et le plus contraignant lorsque l’on veut mener une lutte efficace contre la biopiraterie. Par ailleurs, en s’appuyant sur des fondements théoriques constructivistes, notre analyse essaye de démontrer que les pays du Sud, riches en biodiversité et en savoirs traditionnels, peuvent véritablement impulser un mouvement en faveur d’une législation internationale efficace en matière de protection des savoirs traditionnels

Análisis de los efectos generados por la decisión 391 sobre el régimen común de acceso a los recursos genéticos de la CAN, en el fenómeno de la biopiratería (1996-2010)

Después que muchos Estados se enriquecieran tanto intelectual como económicamente de la explotación o apropiación ilegal de la biodiversidad andina de la cual los miembros de la CAN eran país de origen, surge la necesidad de proteger la riqueza de la región, razón por la cual nace la Decisión 391 en 1996 sobre un Régimen Común de Acceso a Recursos genéticos. De esta manera los países miembros de la CAN se convirtieron en los primeros con un mecanismo de control para el acceso a los recursos genéticos y partición equitativa de los beneficios; buscando con ello sentar bases para la creación de conocimientos sobre el tema, el desarrollo de capacidades científicas y tecnológicas, y la promoción del uso sostenible de los recursos. Sin embargo por razones de carácter nacional la implementación del mismo no ha progresado, generando que los casos de biopiratería aumenten e incluso sean difíciles de prevenir. Siendo este un tema de gran relevancia para Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú y Venezuela, esta monografía examinará en las siguientes páginas la reglamentación nacional para comprender a mayor profundidad los defectos y/o cualidades de las decisiones tomadas por los Estados para la aplicación de la Decisión 391, y así mismo evidenciará las razones por las cuales la implementación de la Decisión no ha tenido éxito total sobre el control de la biopiratería, entre ellas la falta de reglamentación, la especificación de roles, la concientización ciudadana e incluso información al público en general.

Análisis de algunas alternativas de control en los acuerdos de cooperación bilateral, regional y multilateral en materia ambiental. Estudio de caso: La regulación del acceso a los recursos genéticos frente a la amenaza de la biopiratería en el Convenio de Diversidad Biológica, La Comunidad Andina y el Tratado de Libre Comercio con Estados Unidos

Esta monografía avanza en la revisión conceptual que permita establecer posibles alternativas de control en los acuerdos de cooperación bilateral, regional y multilateral, que contribuyan a mitigar el efecto de la biopiratería en Colombia debido al acceso de los recursos genéticos. Parte de un análisis comparado de los aspectos básicos de control propuestos para las negociaciones en materia ambiental que se llevaron a cabo en tres ámbitos distintos: el bilateral, el multilateral y el regional, tomando como referencia el tema de la protección de los recursos genéticos de acuerdo con lo establecido en la Convención de Diversidad Biológica, la Decisión 391 de 1996 de la Comunidad Andina y el texto del TLC entre Colombia y Estados Unidos, con énfasis en la negociación de los temas ambientales. Lo anterior con base en información secundaria, referida específicamente a publicaciones oficiales de gobierno, tratados, textos y revistas académicas especializadas, páginas oficiales y publicaciones de institutos de investigación, las cuales permitieron un acercamiento más profundo a los puntos de observación.

Bioimperialismo e direito de propriedade intelectual: disputas pelo acesso ao cupuaçu e ao conhecimento tradicional

Pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais - FFC

WIPO and the Reinforcement of the Nagoya Protocol: Towards Effective Implementation of an Access and Benefit Sharing Regime for the Protection of Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources

Traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources (TKaGRs) is acknowledged as a valuable resource. Its value draws from economic, social, cultural, and innovative uses. This value places TK at the heart of competing interests as between indigenous peoples who hold it and depend on it for their survival, and profitable industries which seek to exploit it in the global market space. The latter group seek, inter alia, to advance and maintain their global competitiveness by exploiting TKaGRs leads in their research and development activities connected with modern innovation. Biopiracy remains an issue of central concern to the developing world and has emerged in this context as a label for the inequity arising from the misappropriation of TKaGRs located in the South by commercial interests usually located in the North. Significant attention and resources are being channeled at global efforts to design and implement effective protection mechanisms for TKaGRs against the incidence of biopiracy. The emergence and recent entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol offers the latest example of a concluded multilateral effort in this regard. The Nagoya Protocol, adopted on the platform of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), establishes an open-ended international access and benefit sharing (ABS) regime which is comprised of the Protocol as well as several complementary instruments. By focusing on the trans-regime nature of biopiracy, this thesis argues that the intellectual property (IP) system forms a central part of the problem of biopiracy, and so too to the very efforts to implement solutions, including through the Nagoya Protocol. The ongoing related work within the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), aimed at developing an international instrument (or a series of instruments) to address the effective protection of TK, constitutes an essential complementary process to the Nagoya Protocol, and, as such, forms a fundamental element within the Nagoya Protocol’s evolving ABS regime-complex. By adopting a third world approach to international law, this thesis draws central significance from its reconceptualization of biopiracy as a trans-regime concept. By construing the instrument(s) being negotiated within WIPO as forming a central component part of the Nagoya Protocol, this dissertation’s analysis highlights the importance of third world efforts to secure an IP-based reinforcement to the Protocol for the effective eradication of biopiracy.