Impact of the TRIPS Agreement on the Biodiversity of Developing Countries

Abstract

The TRIPS Agreement is widely regarded as the counterbalancing counterpart to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), whose main objectives include the protection, conservation, and sustainable use of biological resources. Among the most important elements of biodiversity are traditional knowledge and folk medicine. Biodiversity is increasingly exposed to biopiracy through the exploitation of intellectual property systems, which are used to legitimize exclusive ownership and control over biological resources, biological products, and the processes used in their production. Patent claims over biodiversity and the knowledge on which it is based—including the innovations and creative contributions of peoples in developing countries—represent a form of biopiracy carried out under the framework of the TRIPS Agreement and the obligations it imposes on states, particularly developing countries that lack technological capabilities and industrial capacity. The TRIPS Agreement has extended intellectual property protection to all forms of life and biodiversity on the assumption that insufficient protection of intellectual property rights in developing countries constitutes an obstacle to international trade. Consequently, TRIPS has sought to reinforce intellectual property protection to the level considered necessary to safeguard the interests of international commerce.