Genetic Resources

Species-rich countries, including tropical giants like Brazil and India, are on guard against corporations and researchers capitalizing on their biodiversity without offering compensation or royalties

Members of Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have concluded an agreement under which it will be mandatory for patent applicants to disclose country of origin or source of genetic resources if the claimed invention is based on those materials or associated traditional knowledge. The treaty will provide additional protection for Indian genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Although these are currently protected within India, they are prone to misappropriation in countries, which do not have disclosure obligations. The current patent legislation does not have a mandatory provision requiring patent applicants to disclose the country of origin or source in case where the invention is based on genetic resources. At present, only 35 countries have some form of disclosure obligations, most of which are not mandatory and do not have appropriate sanctions or remedies in place for effective implementation. The new treaty was adopted on May 24 at the WIPO ...

The dependence of countries on each other to breed new crop varieties and hybrids is bound to increase