Genetic Resources Intellectual Property Issues

The subset of Genetic Resources covers two broad areas of concern about intellectual property: aspects which impact on knowledge about the medical uses of genetic resources and those that impact on knowledge about their use for food and agriculture. "Beyond intellectual property" is now a common debate as genetic use restriction technologies and other control mechanisms are being researched and developed by corporations and their research institutes.

• UPOV - International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants - Website of the institution that governs this 65 nation Convention on Plant Variety Protection (PVP) of crops and flowers. Details of the Convention, membership, conduct, implementation.
  
• Commission on Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR) - UK Government IPR Commission's website containing background, papers, conference reports and UK government response. Commission's Report: "Integrating IPRs and Development Policy" available in many languages.
  
• Trade, Intellectual Property, Food and Biodiversity - Discussion paper prepared for the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) on key issues and options for the review of Article 27.3(b) of the WTO/TRIPs Agreement. Includes discussion of impacts on food security and agricultural biodiversity. [PDF]
  
• Porto Alegre Treaty to Share the Global Commons - Full text and background of proposed treaty designed to ensure that governments and Indigenous Peoples, who are the caretakers of their part of the genetic commons, establish the appropriate statutory mechanisms needed to ensure both sovereignty and open
  
• Intellectual Property and Community Rights in African Agriculture: Implications for Small Farmers - Authoritative introduction to these issues by Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN) concerning African countries that are being forced to choose between two conflicting paths for agricultural research and development: one rooted in the knowledge
  
• People, Plants and Patents - Full text of 1994 book on the impact of intellectual property on trade, agricultural biodiversity, and rural society by The Crucible Group, hosted by IDRC.
  
• WorldTrade Organisation - TRIPs / Patents pages - WTO's pages on the Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPs), highlighting the patents clauses which include genetic resources patents. Links to all other aspects of trade and intellectual property.
  
• World Patent System - Review by GRAIN of moves by the World Intellectual Property Organisation to implement a single global system for approval and administration of patents.
  
• The True Cost of Gene Patents: The Economic and Social Consequences of Patenting Genes and Living Organisms - This Greenpeace report is one in a series that call for a substantial restriction of, or a complete end to, the patenting of genes and living organisms(2004) [PDF]
  
• Comparing sui generis rights systems - Theme issue of Biotechnology and Development Monitor journal on Plant Variety Rights and sui generis systems. Journal covers all aspects of IPRs, seed systems and biotechnology. Links through home page of journal.
  
• International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture - UKabc portal on the IT PGRFA (International Seed Treaty) that governs the access, use, conservation and development of the genetic resources of food security crop and forage species. Treaty outlaws IPRs on selected PGRFA. Links to all official FAO, media
  
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Prior Art Database (TEK*PAD) - An online, searchable archive of public domain documented uses of traditional ecological knowledge concerning indigenous knowledge and plant species, necessary to establish prior art. Includes taxonomic data, ethnobotanical uses, scientific/medical papers
  
• Small-scale Producers' Intellectual Rights to Agricultural Biodiversity - Introduction to the issues in a Kenyan context, with an emphasis on farmers, pastoralists and fisherfolk, and the need for protocols on intellectual property. Includes Via Campesina's statement on Farmers' Rights.
  
• Action Aid Food Rights Campaign: TRIPs review - Resources related to Action Aid's campaign on genetic resources with links to papers on IPRs, TRIPs, GM crops, agricultural trade and corporate control.
  
• TRIPs, Sui Generis and Plant Variety Protection - Third World Network's pages on IP issues. Extensive and historical coverage of the issues from an authoritative developing country perspective.
  
• Blogging Biodiversity - A useful personal weblog on international negotiations on biodiversity issues.
  
• TRIPs, Biodiversity and Commonwealth Countries - Discussion paper prepared for the Commonwealth Secretariat on capacity building priorities for the Review of TRIPs Article 27.3(b). Extensive links to related papers and sites.
  
• WIPO: Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore - World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) pages on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources with links to Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore. Includes coverage of the intergovernmental committee covering all three issues.
  
• Seeding Solutions - Full text and publication details of Volume 1 (ownership, conservation and exchange of genetic resources) and Volume 2 (legal mechanisms) which update People, Plants and Patents. Published by The Crucible Group/IDRC in 2000.
  
• Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) - QUNO publications on Trade and Intellectual Property, including aspects related to: Food, Sui Generis systems, Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Traditional Knowledge
  
• Alternative Mechanisms to Enhance Corporate Monopoly and BioSerfdom in the 21st Century - ETC Group Communiqué on the uncertainties surrounding intellectual property rights, which, being increasingly unacceptable to industry, is why new tools for monopoly control of biological and other resources are being developed. [PDF]
  
  

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