Biotechnological Innovations, Genetic Resources, and Traditional Knowledge: Current Developments at the World Intellectual Property Organization

2009 ◽  
pp. 553-578
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
World Intellectual Property Organization ◽  
The World

scholarly journals Indigenous Customary Law and International Intellectual Property: Ascertaining an Effective Indigenous Definition for Misappropriation of Traditional Knowledge

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 597
Author(s):  
Nopera Dennis-McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
World Intellectual Property Organization ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
System A ◽  
Property System ◽  
The World ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Property Regime

The effective protection of indigenous traditional knowledge from misappropriation is a fundamental challenge faced by the intellectual property system. A substantial aspect of this challenge is how the intellectual property regime can practically utilise or incorporate indigenous customary law as a means of protection against misappropriation, when there is an inherent tension between the former and the latter. Any international legal instrument intended to protect against misappropriation of indigenous traditional knowledge will have to contend with this tension: a definition of misappropriation ought to encourage use of local indigenous customary law, but it also must be practically applicable within the confines of the intellectual property system. Consequently, this article considers the challenge in two parts. The first part requires ascertainment of a potential international legal definition of misappropriation that will uphold and maintain indigenous customary law, in the context of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) draft articles. To ensure the definition effectively affirms indigenous customary law, it will be based on three key "approaches" to indigenous custom. The second part entails application of the definition to the domestic context, namely through the case studies of New Zealand and Australia, and a subsequent critique of the difficulties of application, to illustrate the challenge of incorporating indigenous customary law within the intellectual property system. This article concludes that the risks inherent in an aspirational definition of misappropriation which may have some challenges in application are outweighed by the potential of normalising and encouraging indigenous customary law as the foundational basis for truly effective protection of traditional knowledge against misappropriation.

Afro-Cuban Folkloric Dance in the Age of Intellectual Property

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-201
Author(s):  
Carolyn Renée Pautz
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
World Intellectual Property Organization ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Expressions ◽  
Traditional Cultural Expressions

Abstract:This article analyzes drafts put forth by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to examine the gaps that are created when institutions attempt to assign authorship of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions to individuals and communities and how these gaps impact the use of folkloric dance in cultural institutions. The analysis produced via anthropological mappings of policy is underpinned with an examination of terminologies that circulate between fields of discourse, spiraling their way into public policies concerning marginalized peoples’ rights, economies of art, and intellectual property. This is followed by ethnographic accounts of Afro-Cuban folkloric dance classes, for it is in the dancing bodies that gaps between policies of authorship and the reality of unstable streams of transmission and reception materialize. By reproducing and circulating these unstable streams, combined with various legal doctrines put forth by WIPO, cultural institutions appropriate Afro-Cuban folkloric dance to commodify individuals and communities.

Intellectual Property from a Global Environmental Law Perspective: Lessons from Patent Disclosure Requirements for Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 503-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Chiarolla
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
World Intellectual Property Organization ◽  
Environmental Standards ◽  
Nagoya Protocol ◽  
Disclosure Requirements ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
The World

AbstractThis commentary considers the intellectual property (IP) system from a global environmental law perspective by exploring the extent to which patent-related treaties, such as the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the World Intellectual Property Organization Patent Cooperation Treaty, can facilitate implementation of global environmental standards in the field of biodiversity law. It provides practical guidance to countries that wish to introduce patent disclosure-related mechanisms into their legal systems with a view to mainstreaming instances of global justice, fairness and equity, and raises awareness of the limitations arising from their extant IP obligations. Global environmental law standards have exercised an undeniable influence on the political discourse in international IP policy making in the field of patent disclosure. Still, many patent disclosure requirements that pre-date the Nagoya Protocol apply only to genetic resources the provenance of which is the same country that established the requirement. However, if a country designates its patent or IP office as a compliance checkpoint under the Nagoya Protocol, then the disclosure requirement should encompass at least the genetic resources originating from all countries that are contracting parties to this instrument. This could allow the fulfilment of a core monitoring obligation of the latter, while enabling wider synergies and transparency within the IP system.

Asian Borderlands and the Legal Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 1403-1433 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPH ANTONS
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
World Intellectual Property Organization ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Nuanced Understanding

AbstractTraditional knowledge related to biodiversity, agriculture, medicine and artistic expressions has recently attracted much interest amongst policy makers, legal academics and social scientists. Several United Nations organizations, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Convention on Biological Diversity under the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), have been working on international models for the protection of such knowledge held by local and indigenous communities. Relevant national, regional or provincial level legislation comes in the form of intellectual property laws and laws related to health, heritage or environmental protection. In practice, however, it has proven difficult to agree on definitions of the subject matter, to delineate local communities and territories holding the knowledge, and to clearly identify the subjects and beneficiaries of the protection. In fact, claims to ‘cultural property’ and heritage have led to conflicts and tensions between communities, regions and nations. This paper will use Southeast Asian examples and case studies to show the importance of concepts such as Zomia, ‘regions of refuge’ and mandala as well as ‘borderlands’ studies to avoid essentialized notions of communities and cultures in order to develop a nuanced understanding of the difficulties for national and international lawmaking in this field. It will also develop a few suggestions on how conflicts and tensions could be avoided or ameliorated.

scholarly journals Ochrona prawna tradycyjnej wiedzy rolniczej dotyczącej zasobów genetycznych

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Paweł Gała
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Living Organisms

<p>Traditional knowledge, including genetic resources of living organisms, especially plants, plays an extremely important role also in the development of modern science and present-day industry. This prompts us to consider the need, scope, and model of legal protection for such knowledge, both for the needs of the communities that create and cultivate it and for the wider public good. The present article includes an analysis of international legal regulations concerning the protection of traditional knowledge, with particular emphasis on the knowledge related to genetic resources, as well as legal works in this field. The considerations cover issues related to the development of the conceptual framework of such legal norms and the foundations of the legal protection of traditional knowledge, in particular the arguments concerning the need for such protection. The article also presents the basic types of intellectual property rights that can be the basis for legal protection of traditional knowledge.</p>

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