International Protection Of Intellectual Property In The Utilization Of Genetic Resources

With the rapid development of technology, human being has more power to utilize the genetic resource, nowadays; the utilization of genetic resource is common in many industries, such as the pharmaceuticals, the botanical medicines, personal health care and cosmetic products and so on. Currently, the intellectual property is the main mechanism for the commercial utilization of genetic resources. However, the problem is that the developed countries use genetic resources mainly from developing countries, and gain enormous economic benefits through intellectual property right. With the conclusion of the CBD, the principle of prior informs consent and fair and equitable sharing of benefits is established. The developing courtiers argued that the current intellectual property system facilitates the so called bio-piracy, which is detrimental to the developing country. The developing countries are pushing the proposal that the patent applicants should be required to disclose the origin of genetic resources and traditional knowledge on which their inventions were based. They proposal of this kind (with different version) are wildly discusses at different international forum such as the WIPO and the WTO, and some courtiers have already amended their patent laws. The newly amendment of the Patent Law in China also follows this trend. With these purposes, this thesis includes five chapters.Chapter 1 begins with the definition of the genetic resources, and then discusses the relationship between the genetic resource and traditional knowledge, the relationship between the genetic resource and biodiversity, and the legal status of the genetic resources. Chapter 2 discusses the utilization of the genetic resources, introduced the concept of bio-piracy and typical cases. Chapter 3 analyzes the bilateral system under Convention on Biodiversity and the multilateral system under International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Chapter 4 describes how the proposal, which argues that patent applicants should be required to disclose the origin of genetic resources and traditional knowledge on which their inventions were based, is being discussed in the WIPO and WTO. The national legislation of this kind is also analyzed. Chapter 5 gives the comments on the newly amended Patent Law of China, and calls for further support of other genetic resource management law.