Review of Article 27.3(b) and the Patenting of Life Forms: Hitting a BRIC Wall in the WTO?

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-318
Author(s):  
Jagjit Plahe ◽  
Nitesh Kukreja ◽  
Sunil Ponnamperuma
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Private Property Rights ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
The World ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Under Article 27.3(b) of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), all members are required to extend private property rights to life forms. Using official WTO documents, this article analyzes the negotiating positions of WTO members on life patents during a review of Article 27.3(b) which commenced in 1999 and is currently ongoing. Initially, developing countries raised serious ethical concerns regarding life patents, creating a clear North-South divide. However, over time the position of Brazil and India moved away from the ethics of life patents to the prevention of bio-piracy, a position supported by China. Russia too is supportive of life patents. A group of small developing countries have, however, continued to question the morality of life patents despite this “BRIC wall,” changing the dynamics of the negotiations from a North-South divide to one which now includes a South-South divide.

scholarly journals Not Tripping over TRIPS: An Analysis of Necessity and Legality of the COVID-19 TRIPS Waiver Proposal

2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 61-65
Author(s):  
Ahan Gadkari ◽  
◽  
Sofia Dash ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing ◽  
The World ◽  
Fair Distribution

The availability of vaccinations against COVID-19 provides hope for containing the epidemic, which has already claimed over 2.84 million lives. However, inoculating millions of individuals worldwide would need large vaccine manufacturing followed by fair distribution. A barrier to vaccine development and dissemination is the developers' intellectual property rights. India and South Africa have jointly sought to the World Trade Organization that certain TRIPS rules of COVID-19 vaccines, medicines, and treatments be waived. This piece argues for such a waiver, highlighting the unique circumstances that exist. It believes that TRIPS's flexibilities are inadequate to cope with the present epidemic, particularly for nations without pharmaceutical manufacturing competence.

IV. Intellectual Property

2001 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 714-724
Author(s):  
Joe McMahon ◽  
Catherine Seville
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Trips Agreement ◽  
Global System ◽  
The World

This Journal's previous piece on current developments in EC intellectual property noted that this area of law is dominated by the drive towards harmonisation.1 This drive continues, and its success has been such that it can now begin to be seen in an overarching context of globalisation. The idea of a unified global system for the protection of intellectual property now seems at least conceivable, even if not immediately achievable. It is even possible to state that some stages have been achieved on the journey, most notably the TRIPs Agreement. Since adherence to this is a requirement of World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, the arguments in its favour have suddenly become “persuasive”. It represents a tremendous achievement in terms of the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights throughout the world. The World Intellectual Property Organisation's contribution here and elsewhere has been immense.

Compulsory Licensing in Canada and Thailand: Comparing Regimes to Ensure Legitimate Use of the WTO Rules

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina M. Lybecker ◽  
Elisabeth Fowler
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Trips Agreement ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
Compulsory Licensing ◽  
The World ◽  
Aids Crisis ◽  
Doha Declaration

The tension between economic policy and health policy is a longstanding dilemma, but one that was brought to the fore with the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement in 1994. The pharmaceutical industry has long argued that intellectual property protection (IPP) is vital for innovation. At the same time, there are those who counter that strong IPP negatively impacts the affordability and availability of essential medicines in developing countries. However, actors on both sides of the debate were in agreement that something needed to be done to address the HIV/AIDS crisis, especially in developing countries. In response to sustained and significant pressure from civil society groups, members of the World Trade Organization agreed to the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (the Doha Declaration) in 2001. The Declaration clarified that countries unable to manufacture the needed pharmaceuticals could obtain more affordable generics elsewhere if necessary.

Biotechnological Patents and Morality

2011 ◽  
pp. 141-151
Author(s):  
Jakkrit Kuanpoth
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Patent Protection ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Micro Organisms

The chapter deals with ethical aspects of patent law and how the global patent regime helps or hinders the development of a developing country such as Thailand. More specifically, it discusses Article 27.3 of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which states that countries may exclude methods of medical treatment, plants and animals (but not micro-organisms) from patent protection. It also provides legal analysis on the issue of whether developing countries can maximize benefits from the TRIPS morality exception (Article 27.2) in dealing with biotechnological patenting.

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.

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