Obtaining And Benefit Sharing About Traditional Knowledge And Biological Resources--With The Analysis Of The Role Of Intellectual Property

With the rapid increase of human demand and the enhancement of technical level, the huge value of traditional knowledge and of related biological material is being recognized widely. Until 1980's, traditional knowledge and biological materials were still regarded as the common heritage of human being and the collection and use of them were almost free and uncontrolled. As a result, the phenomenon of "biopiracy" happened frequently, while the unjust benefit sharing became a serious problem that threatened the biodiversity conservation. Bioprospecting is usually conducted by the business companies and research organs from developed countries. They attained the precious traditional knowledge and biological material with little cost, on the base of which new products have been developed, commercialized and patented. Consequently, the developed countries could benefit a lot from traditional knowledge. On the other hand, the majority of traditional knowledge and biological material are located in the rain forest which mostly in the territory of developing countries. If the developed countries do not share their profits with the indigenous communities and local areas, there will be unbalanced relations between them, which is detriment to the biodiversity conservation and is unjust to the benefits of developing countries.The first chapter introduces the related notions, such as biodiversity, traditional knowledge and bioprospecting. The issues of biopiracy and benefit sharing are presented. The second chapter deals with the role of intellectual property in the issue of biopiracy and benefit sharing. From many aspects, intellectual property conflicts with traditional knowledge and played a negative role in benefit sharing. However, in some sense, intellectual property could be used as a tool to protect traditional knowledge.The third chapter introduces the several contractual models of benefit sharing at present, and then discusses the possible measures to be taken for the benefit enhancement of indigenous and local communities. The issue of how to use intellectual property to protect the related interests is also analyzed.The last chapter is about the state of art in china. China has already begun to concern the problems of traditional knowledge and benefit sharing. And the foreign expertise and experiences could be good references.