Property-Rights Regimes over Biological Resources

10.1068/c13s ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 651-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Cullet
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Biodiversity Management ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Biological Resources ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
And Control

The increasing economic importance of biological resources and, in particular, knowledge related to these resources, has made the allocation of property rights one of the most contentious issues in the debate concerning biodiversity management at the international level. The author surveys the different property-rights regimes developed to regulate access to and control over biological resources, and the relevant international instruments and institutions. He argues that the overemphasis on private property rights regimes, in particular monopoly intellectual property rights such as patents, has been inimical to the sustainable management of biological resources at local and international levels. He suggests ways to allocate property rights so as to promote forms of biodiversity management that are both socially equitable and environmentally sustainable, and analyses some of the recent developments concerning alternative forms of intellectual-property protection.

Contesting Privatization: NGOs and Farmers' Rights in the African Model Law

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah Zerbe
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Model Law

The development of the concept of farmers' rights in the Food and Agriculture Organization, and its adoption by the African Union as a counterbalance to the private property rights of plant breeders, highlights the divisiveness of the question of ownership in biodiversity and biotechnology. This article examines the development of the African Model Law, a regional regime intended to promote indigenous control over local biodiversity. The principal argument is that key nongovernmental organizations were able to draw on African efforts and concerns regarding conceptions of private property rights embodied in international agreements, framing the question of farmers' rights in a way that spoke to the African experience. Farmers' rights thus came to be a focal point for African negotiators at international discussions on intellectual property rights and biodiversity, enabling Africa to take a key role in the articulation of alternatives to the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement.

Patenting Biodiversity? Rejecting WTO/TRIPS in Southern Africa

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew T. Mushita ◽  
Carol B. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Plant Genetic Resources ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Year 2000

The year 2000 was the deadline for developing countries to bring their national laws into compliance with the trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, the transition to one universal intellectual property law is not proceeding as scripted. After briefly summarizing a long tradition of debate about intellectual property, this article first analyzes what is new and different about TRIPS. It then argues that extending intellectual private property rights to plants, in particular in the form of patents, challenges scientific logic and threatens biodiversity. Southern Africa has also taken this view, and is proposing political and legal alternatives to the patenting of biodiversity. Combining principles from the Convention on Bio logical Diversity and the FAO International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources, draft legislation affirms farmers' and community rights, while not denying the important role of international protocols. The proposal, calling for local and national control, is not only a model for Africa, but for other developing countries to resolve the incongruities between TRIPS and the CBD over the patenting of living organisms.

LYSANDER SPOONER: NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA'S LAST NATURAL RIGHTS THEORIST

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Mack
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
Herbert Spencer

AbstractThe main purpose of this essay is to articulate the ideas of the last powerful advocate of natural rights in nineteenth-century America. That last powerful advocate was the Massachusetts-born radical libertarian Lysander Spooner (1808-1887). Besides his powerful antebellum attacks on slavery, Spooner developed forceful arguments on behalf of a strongly individualistic conception of natural law and private property rights and against coercive moralism, coercive paternalism, and state authority and legislation. This essay focuses on the theoretical core of Spooner’s position which is his doctrine of natural rights—a doctrine that is primarily developed in Spooner’s The Law of Intellectual Property (1855), Natural Law (1882), and A Letter to Grover Cleveland (1886). I situate Spooner within the libertarian tradition in political thought by beginning this essay with an examination of two English writers whose radical writings (for the most part) preceded Spooner’s—Thomas Hodgskin (1787-1869) and the early Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). I emphasis the strongly Lockean character of Spooner’s thought and support this contention in part by showing how much more Lockean Spooner was than either Hodgskin or the early Spencer.

scholarly journals 'I have a patent lawyer on my payroll': Intellect v intellectual property rights- battle over the cultural commons

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-88
Author(s):  
James Arvanitakis
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Cultural Sphere ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural Commons

Over the last 20-years, markets come to dominate the way 'resources' are managed. The expansion of the market doctrine has at its core the belief that the apporpiate private property rights are the best way to promote innovation and protect freedoms. The scramble over the private property rights is now well entrenched in the intellectual property arena, with countless examples of patents entering areas that once seemed inconceivable. Thi article moves from Bollier's (2002) disucssion of the concept to argue that intellect, rather than being commodity that is promoted by private property rights is rather a commons— specifically a 'cultural commons'. As such, the process of commodification turn intellect into intellectual property—limiting availability. As a commons, if intellect is to be prmoted, it must be open and shared in the public sphere. In contrast to the ongoing commodification of all aspects of life, social movements and academics are begining to rediscover the commons. This rediscovery now takes the battle between the dominant forces of free market fundamentalism and those who oppose them, into the cultural sphere.

LAND PLOT AS AN OBJECT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav Vovk
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Rich Country ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
Land Plot ◽  
Government Supervision

Russia is a resource-rich country, and great changes are being made today in order that land and its resources are used for the benefit of any citizen of our state. Under the circumstances government supervision (control) over the optimal use of territories gets the essential role. The rights that are contained in land reform give owners, landowners, land users, and employers extensive powers concerning independent land management.

Konsep Distribusi Pendapatan Dalam Islam

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-97
Author(s):  
Moh. Ah. Subhan ZA
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
The State ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Distribution Of Income

The main problem of social life in the community is about how to make the allocation and distribution of income well. Inequality and poverty basically arise not because of the difference of anyone’s strength and weakness in getting livelihood, but because of inappropriate distribution mechanism. With the result that wealth treasure just turns on the rich wealthy, which is in turn, results in the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.Therefore, a discussion on distribution becomes main focus of theory of Islamic economics. Moreover, the discussion of the distribution is not only related to economic issues, but also social and political aspects. On the other side, the economic vision of Islam gives priority to the guarantee of the fulfillment of a better life. Islam emphasizes distributive justice and encloses, in its system, a program for the redistribution of wealth and prosperity, so that each individual is guaranteed with a respectable and friendly standard of living. Islam recognizes private property rights, but the private property rights must be properly distributed. The personal property is used for self and family livelihood, for investment of the working capital, so that it can provide job opportunities for others, for help of the others through zakat, infaq, and shodaqoh. In this way, the wealth not only rotates on the rich, bringing on gap in social life.The problem of wealth distribution is closely related to the welfare of society. Therefore, the state has a duty to regulate the distribution of income in order that the distribution can be fair and reaches appropriate target. The state could at least attempt it by optimizing the role of BAZ (Badan Amil Zakat) and LAZ (Lembaga Amil Zakat) which has all this time been slack. If BAZ and LAZ can be optimized, author believes that inequality and poverty over time will vanish. This is because the majority of Indonesia's population is Muslim.

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