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2 - The TRIPS Agreement and the patent protection of genetic resources

from Part II - The protection of genetic resources in intellectual property law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

Jonathan Curci
Jonathan Curci
Affiliation:
Touro International University, Rome
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Summary

This chapter examines the international and regional law obligations related to the patenting of life forms. The creation and the evolution of the international patent system has led to Article 27 in the TRIPS Agreement, thus internationalizing the practice of patenting life forms.

Because the matter of the protection of biodiversity and TK in the IP system is strictly connected with the interests of developing countries, particular attention should be paid to some development-oriented principles of the TRIPS Agreement.

The following sections offer some interpretative paths that the judge, the policy maker, and the legal scholar can use to apply the relevant TRIPS provisions to any particular case at hand. The objective is to explain some interpretative principles of the substantive TRIPS provisions that may help to achieve a fine-tuned balance between right-holders and users with regards to patent rights mandated by Article 27 of TRIPS. The achievement of this balance is central to the relationship between GR and TK provider countries (generally developing) and recipient countries (generally industrialized).

The general principles of the TRIPS Agreement

The TRIPS Agreement has the potential to contextualize IP law within the realm of general public international law, given its progressive universal adoption. The whole WTO-GATT legal architecture is based upon the intention of the international community to create a broader constitutional basis to regulate international trade.

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The Protection of Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge in International Law of Intellectual Property , pp. 29 - 49
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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