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BIO-IPR Resource Pointer
On 5 December 2002, Canada's
Supreme Court ruled that higher life forms are not
patentable under national law.
Thailand is debating whether and how Jasmine rice might
fall under its forthcoming legislation on geographical
indications. (In November, the Senate adopted a GIs bill
which does not cover Jasmine rice, but supposedly leaves
space for claims on "Thai Hom Mali" or similar
designations.)
The
Group of twelve Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries held a
meeting on 27-28 November 2002 in Cusco, Peru.
Ashok B. Sharma, "ConAgra gets US patent
for atta", Financial Express, 10 December 2002.
K. P. Prabhakaran Nair, "Of
ayurveda and farmers' rights", The Hindu Business Line,
Chennai, 6 December 2002.
Isabella Gyau Orhin, "Patenting of
seeds and life forms: Ghana moves to protect
biodiversity", Public Agenda, Accra, 6 December 2002.
Sofia S.
Hirakuri, "Scoping meeting on access and benefit sharing
held in Kuala Lumpur", United Nations University News,
Tokyo, 8 November 2002.
REPORTS
Carlos
M. Correa and Sisule F. Musungu, "The WIPO Patent Agenda:
The Risks For Developing Countries", South Centre, Geneva,
November 2002, 42 pp.
Laurence R. Helfer, "Intellectual
Property Rights in Plant Varieties: An Overview with
Options for National Governments", FAO Legal Papers Online
#31, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome, July 2002,
62 pp.
M. Luijben and J.I. Cohen, "Next Harvest: Advancing
Biotechnology's Public Good", report of a meeting
organised by the Biotechnology Service of the
International Service for National Agricultural Research,
The Hague, 7-9 October 2002.
New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development,
"Bioprospecting in New Zealand: Discussing the Options",
Wellington, November 2002, 40 pp.
International Seed Federation, "ISF
View on Intellectual Property", ISF, Chicago, May 2002, 16
pp.
World Trade
Organisation, "Annual Report (2002) of the Council for
TRIPS", IP/C/27, WTO, Geneva, 6 December 2002, 8 pp.
Download from WTO's document database
More than 30 research papers
presented at the national conference on "TRIPS: Next
Agenda for Developing Countries" organised by the
Shyamprsad Institute for Social Service in Hyderabad,
India, on 11-12 October 2002 are online.
TRADE AGREEMENTS
The second
draft (November 2002) of the Free Trade Area of the
Americas agreement, currently under negotiation, is
online. It has a chapter on intellectual property rights
which covers, among other things, patents on life (section
5), plant breeders' rights (section 9), and traditional
knowledge and access to genetic resources (section 6).
Available in Spanish, Portuguese, English and French.
On 19
November 2002, the US and Singapore announced the
substantive conclusion of their negotiations on a
bilateral free trade agreement. Under the terms of the
treaty, Singapore agrees to provide patent protection on
genetically modified plants and animals, and to join the
Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV).
On 11 December 2002, the US
and Chile announced the conclusion of their negotiations
on a bilateral free trade agreement. Under the treaty,
according to US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick,
"protection for US patents, trademarks and trade secrets
'exceeds past trade agreements'."
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