ABSTRACT
The operation of intellectual property within the area raises complex ethical as well as legal issues with respect to sovereignty over genetic resources and indeed the concept of life in the context of the invention as product. Indeed, the politicising of the public sphere is a critical characteristic of civil society activity in campaigns dealing with intellectual property and the right to public health. The characteristic personal freedom of the private sphere is at odds with the privateering of the 'public benefit' of private intellectual property rights in that private space. Property in one's own tissue remains a significant issue in developments, particularly in the increased emphasis on genetic sampling and collection, genomic databases and the bioprospecting and exploitation of genetic material. The Malaria Genomic Epidemiology Network is an important example of international cooperation in over 20 countries towards developing genome-wide association data, led by the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford.
