Event Information
Date: Monday 7 June 2021
Time: 13:30 – 14:30 (CEST)
The identification and utilization of genetic and other biological resources has come to assume an increasingly important role in modern innovation across a wide range of fields. As a source of information, inspiration and invention, genetic resources include a broad and varied range of subject matter, including microorganisms, plant varieties, animal breeds, genetic sequences, nucleotide and amino acid sequence information, traits, molecular events, plasmids, and vectors. In the modern genetic age, such resources have enabled inventions from treatments to cure blindness through gene editing, to crops imbued with drought resistant traits, to the range of advanced COVID-19 vaccines all developed with the use of genetic technology and genetic resources.
Intellectual Property rights, and in particular patents, very frequently cover the innovations derived from genetic resources, and are essential in incentivizing the expenditure of time and resources required to develop useful products and information from raw genetic resources.
However, it has been recognized that the concepts of biological diversity, genetic resources (GR), Traditional Knowledge (TK), and respect for and the preservation thereof are often interrelated. In this connection it should be recognized that many of the regions of the world with the greatest remaining biodiversity, and which represent potentially the greatest untapped sources of natural genetic resources, exist in developing parts of the world. It must also be acknowledged that in practice the realization of the potential of untapped genetic and other biological resources will require partnership and co-operation between local stakeholders (which may be indigenous peoples) and international interests, as well as between the public sector and private sector.
Over the past few decades, a range of international instruments, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the Nagoya Protocol have been enacted, establishing frameworks for access to and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits of the utilization of genetic resources. However, the real-world implementation of those framework agreements remains a work in progress and there remain a number of significant practical challenges to be addressed.
The Standing Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Cultural Expressions and Traditional Knowledge (IP and GRTCETK) of AIPPI, as well as the Standing Committee on TRIPS, have been studying issues related to the intersection of IP with the frameworks that have been established around the use of Genetic Resources.
The Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore of WIPO advises governments, cultural institutions and traditional custodians on issues related to TK and GR, as well as on TK associated with TCEs and their linkage with intellectual property issues.
Due to the ever-increasing rise in the importance and economic value of genetic resources in the modern world, and the on-going challenges in the international implementation of frameworks for access and benefit sharing, WIPO and AIPPI have jointly organized this webinar to provide an introduction for the broader IP community on the intersection between intellectual property rights and the frameworks that govern the use and protection of genetic resources.
This is the first webinar of a series on genetic resources, and will explore what GRs are, their relevance to Intellectual Property, the competing policy imperatives that form the backdrop to the economic exploitation of genetic resources, the international frameworks that govern are intended to govern access to and sharing of benefits from the utilization of GRs, and the practical challenges that lie in the way of their implementation. In particular, requirements of disclosure and prior informed consent will be discussed.
This webinar will provide the necessary understanding for a follow-up webinar organized by the AIPPI IP and GRTCETK Standing Committee on June 29, 2021, which will involve a more in-depth discussion of the practical issues in working with GRs and implementing and complying with the international access and benefit sharing frameworks, with perspectives from public body stakeholders in Asia and Latin America.
The webinar will be moderated by Mr. Daniel Lim, Vice-Chair of the AIPPI Standing Committee on IP and GRTCETK and feature guest speaker Dr. Shakeel Bhatti, Counsellor, Traditional Knowledge Division, Global Challenges and Partnerships Sector, WIPO. They will be joined by Mr. Wend Wendland, Director of the Traditional Knowledge Division at WIPO and Mr. Ralph Nack, AIPPI Second Deputy Reporter General.
Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions.