ABSTRACT
In order to obtain informed consent, an understanding is required by both the collector and the local community of the property law that will govern the transaction. Instruction in the field of patents and other intellectual property tools may be necessary in order for a truly informed consent to exist. This may involve considerable effort since the concept of a legal intellectual property framework may be completely at odds with the indigenous population’s traditional beliefs about the ‘ownership’ of these resources. There must be considerable effort to bridge this gap of understanding between the collector and the native populations since this lack of baseline understanding will prevent any meaningful discussion from taking place. These differences must therefore be reconciled before informed consent can exist.
