An Intellectual Property Protection Study On Plant Genetic Resources In Underdeveloped Regions

How to solve the problem of genetic resources protection has become a confusion of legal research. In this paper, the protection of plant genetic resources in less developed area in our country is addressed. This problem arose from the different attitudes of the north and south countries treating plant genetic resources. Developed countries think that any genetic resources can be shared as a human resource. So, with advanced biotechnology developed countries have the "right of preoccupation". While those developing countries didn’t get benefits from it, and the resources within their territory lost a lot. This made those developing countries re-examine the value of the resources to their own development. So they say the genetic resources have sovereignties. The status quo of our country is similar to that of those developing countries, especially in our less developed areas. Plant genetic resources are very rich in these areas, but they are lost a lot. To solve this problem, firstly we must make it clear that the carrier of plant genetic resources and the information on the carrier are subject to different jurisdictional applies. Secondly, we should find out the feasibility that the genetic resources can be protected under intellectual property rights, according to the latest intellectual property rights theory, "information theory". Presently outstanding problem in our country has two issues:the unbalanced development and the sustainable development. Therefore, this thesis focused on these two important issues for discussion. In order to solve the problem of imbalanced development of our country’s present stage, this article studied regional restriction in the less developed areas, and the development of genetic plant resources contributing to the sustainability of our economics.The structure of this paper is divided into five parts. Firstly, it introduces the present situation and existing problems of the plant genetic resources in less developed areas in our country, then sums up the main characteristics of this kind of resources for detailed addressing and solving the problem in the next parts. Then it compares and analyzes the research achievements of intellectual property rights in both China and foreign countries, so as to find out the possibility from the theory that can provide protections on genetic resources. Because of the problems involving foreign "biological pirates" behaviors, I have to discuss the oversea plant genetic resources protection by their laws, so we can learn about legal protections from other countries and regions. After comparing the experiences of other developing countries, as a result what can we learn from their experience and enlightenment in our less developed areas are discussed. Then this article starts from the various protection modes of intellectual property rights, focuses on the problems faced by our less developed areas, discusses the copyright, patents, trademarks, geographical indications, new plant varieties, and analyzes the feasibilities and limitations of the commercial secrets of plant genetic resources protection. At the end of the article, after analyzing all kinds of intellectual property rights models, this paper try to protect the resource based on the existing intellectual property system the with "overlapping protection" means in order to curb the loss of resources in less developed areas. In order to ensure an effective protection coming from the intellectual property right system in the future, the construction of a special law for plant genetic resources should be arranged.This paper mainly uses normative analysis, by referring to the relevant laws, regulations and basic theory, studies in detail on the basic theories of intellectual property rights. So the legal significance, characteristics, etc., of plant genetic resources protection are analyzed. Combining with the current legal system, standards and scientific guidance are presented to the administrative offices after systematic integration on plant genetic resources protection in less developed areas. Comparative analysis in this paper, in understanding the experience of European Union, the United States, India and other countries in plant genetic resources protection, will help us gain their successful experience and draw their lessons from failure in the system. Interdisciplinary studying in this paper, under the perspective of law, helps combine the knowledge of intellectual property and plant genetics and find the intersection between them, which can provide a new path for plant genetic resources protection by the law. Quantity method in this paper, in collecting a large amount of data, helps prove the author’s view by compiling a number of forms as evidence.