Governance and Micropolitics of Traditional ... - IPRsonline.org

2. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS, AGREEMENTS AND FORA
The relationship between intellectual property, traditional knowledge and plant genetic
resources has become politicised as these resources rapidly disappear, their perceived value
increases, and the culture of those that have acted as custodians are threatened. In response to
the ongoing politicisation, there is a growing body of international law that seeks to clarify the
legal uncertainties, but in practice only seems to exacerbate them (Dutfield, 2004). Table 1
provides a summary of international laws relevant to the governance of intellectual property
rights (IPRs), TK and genetic resources with details of their most pertinent elements.
This section provides an approximately chronological review of proceedings in recent years,
in the international arena, that are of importance to Thailand, and critically analyses the
dominant discourses.
Table 1: Chronology of International Laws on intellectual property rights, traditional
knowledge and genetic resources.
International Law Year Drafted Details
International Convention
for the Protection of New
Varieties of Plants (UPOV)
1961, revised
1969, 1978 and
1991
International Undertaking
on Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture
(IUPGR)
Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD)
Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) Agreement
Patent Law Treaty (and
Patent Cooperation Treaty
(PCT)) WIPO
International Treaty on
Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture
(ITPGR)
- UPOV is essentially designed for protection of new plant
varieties for commercialisation. The most recent version has
been criticised for limiting farmer’s rights.
1980 - Non-binding, but has rhetorical importance for the
consideration of germplasm as the ‘common heritage of
mankind’.
1992 - Established principles of: access and benefit sharing, prior
informed consent, national sovereignty over natural resources,
sustainable use.
1995 - Recognises exclusive rights over genetic resources.
- Members must allow patenting of genetic resources or
implement a sui generis system of plant variety protection.
- Raises minimum standards, eg minimum patent term is 20
2000 (and 1970
(amended 1984)
years.
- Although the Patent Law Treaty and PCT are not specific to
GRs and TK, they work to ‘harmonise’ patent standards
worldwide. At the same time WIPO holds a forum on TK and
GRs, however WIPO have resisted inclusion of elements of
disclosure of origin of inventions in the PCT.
2001 - The ITPGR includes recognition of farmer’s rights, and sets
up a standardised material transfer agreement for accessing
plant genetic resources.
2.1 Historical Developments
Only in recent years has the ownership of germplasm become problematic and highly
politicised. This section attempts to provide some historical background of the evolution of
control over plant genetic resources and biodiversity, particularly pertaining to agriculture.
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