Patents and Access and Benefit-Sharing Contracts: Conservation or Just More Red Tape?

摘要

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY and biodiversity conservation crystallized with the negotiation and implementation of the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Despite an apparent resolution through the CBD's voluntary Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising Out of Their Utilization (Bonn Guidelines)' and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the CBD, there remains little actual consensus. One of the key questions that remains is the interaction between patents and biodiversityconservation and the role of patents in promoting biodiversity conservation, recalling the CBD specilically provided that intellectual property should support the CBD's objectives, including biodiversity conservation and sustainable use (Art 16(5)).