ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the negotiations on a regime to counter 'biopiracy', a process that led to the conclusion of the 2010 Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) yet was preceded by a host of failed attempts at situating compliance measures within various patent law treaties. It discusses the process towards an Access to and Benefit-sharing (ABS) compliance regime covering the utilization of all genetic resources within the scope of the CBD. In several cases developing countries offered as instances of biopiracy within the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council discussions, patent applicants had, in fact, disclosed the origin of genetic resources used in their inventions. Traditional Knowledge associated with genetic resources may entail, the use of plants for medical or spiritual purposes in contexts where intellectual property rights, such as patents or plant variety protection, are not applicable.