ABSTRACT
The life science industry is engaged in natural product research. For such natural product research, a wide variety of genetic resources (GRs) or traditional knowledge (TK) associated with such GRs might be needed. The life science industry is dedicated to complying with all relevant rules on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), which includes obtaining the prior informed consent (PIC) for access and use of a specific GR, if and as needed; and entering into mutually agreed terms (MAT) specifying the benefit-sharing obligations. Since the start of IGC negotiations, the existing international and national legal landscape has changed fundamentally since a specific legal framework on ABS has come into existence. Disclosure obligation going beyond current patent laws is not needed for the granting of erroneous patents, since this can be done by applying the existing rules, supplemented by enhancing instruments such as databases to enable and improve prior art and TK searches.
