Intellectual Protection of Plant Varieties: Evolution and Adaptation From North to South - The Cases of Argentina and Brazil
(2009)Department of Law
- Abstract
- The expansion of biotechnology applied to agriculture has drastically changed traditional farming in recent decades. New plant varieties and techniques developed by life-science corporations guarantee more efficiency than traditional methods at relatively low costs. This feature resulted in many biotech creations (such as GM plants) being rapidly adopted by countries with agriculture-based economies like Argentina and Brazil. But the massive arrival of new biotech products for agriculture into developing countries was accompanied by claims for the adoption of stricter schemes of intellectual protection for those inventive new products. In fact, the lack of effective systems of IPR for plant varieties or the non-enforcement of the existing... (More)
- The expansion of biotechnology applied to agriculture has drastically changed traditional farming in recent decades. New plant varieties and techniques developed by life-science corporations guarantee more efficiency than traditional methods at relatively low costs. This feature resulted in many biotech creations (such as GM plants) being rapidly adopted by countries with agriculture-based economies like Argentina and Brazil. But the massive arrival of new biotech products for agriculture into developing countries was accompanied by claims for the adoption of stricter schemes of intellectual protection for those inventive new products. In fact, the lack of effective systems of IPR for plant varieties or the non-enforcement of the existing rules in large agricultural producer countries meant a threat to life-science corporations' investment. One of the objectives of industrialized countries when enacting IPR legislation related to biotechnology is to protect and encourage investment in R&&semicD. In that sense, that objective it is not compatible with the main aim of developing countries of protecting the interest of local producers and exporters. This conflict of interests is reflected in the dissimilar approach of developing and developed countries when defining the scope of their IPR systems for plant breeders. This thesis describes and analyzes from a legal perspective the process that progressively led to more open schemes of IPR protections over plant varieties in industrialized countries and that continued with the expansion of those legal systems over developing countries´ legislation after the signing of the TRIPS Agreement. That analysis has as a main purpose the evaluation of the possible effects and consequences of implementing in agriculture-based economies strict schemes of protection originally created to satisfy specific necessities of industrialized countries. In that respect, the explanation of this process is carried out taking as examples the cases of Argentina and Brazil and the adaptation of their legislation in relation to the arrival of the RR soybean to their fields. In order to reach its objective, this thesis is focused on three main factors: the legal development of the systems of intellectual property protection for plant varieties in the US and Europe&semic the relevant provisions of the international documents that launched those schemes into developing countries&semic and the features and problems surrounding the adoption of those legal systems in the legislation of Argentina and Brazil, two of the largest agricultural producers in the world. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1555424
- author
- Vergara, José Ignacio
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2009
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- European Business Law
- language
- English
- id
- 1555424
- date added to LUP
- 2010-03-08 15:23:42
- date last changed
- 2010-03-08 15:23:42
@misc{1555424,
abstract = {{The expansion of biotechnology applied to agriculture has drastically changed traditional farming in recent decades. New plant varieties and techniques developed by life-science corporations guarantee more efficiency than traditional methods at relatively low costs. This feature resulted in many biotech creations (such as GM plants) being rapidly adopted by countries with agriculture-based economies like Argentina and Brazil. But the massive arrival of new biotech products for agriculture into developing countries was accompanied by claims for the adoption of stricter schemes of intellectual protection for those inventive new products. In fact, the lack of effective systems of IPR for plant varieties or the non-enforcement of the existing rules in large agricultural producer countries meant a threat to life-science corporations' investment. One of the objectives of industrialized countries when enacting IPR legislation related to biotechnology is to protect and encourage investment in R&&semicD. In that sense, that objective it is not compatible with the main aim of developing countries of protecting the interest of local producers and exporters. This conflict of interests is reflected in the dissimilar approach of developing and developed countries when defining the scope of their IPR systems for plant breeders. This thesis describes and analyzes from a legal perspective the process that progressively led to more open schemes of IPR protections over plant varieties in industrialized countries and that continued with the expansion of those legal systems over developing countries´ legislation after the signing of the TRIPS Agreement. That analysis has as a main purpose the evaluation of the possible effects and consequences of implementing in agriculture-based economies strict schemes of protection originally created to satisfy specific necessities of industrialized countries. In that respect, the explanation of this process is carried out taking as examples the cases of Argentina and Brazil and the adaptation of their legislation in relation to the arrival of the RR soybean to their fields. In order to reach its objective, this thesis is focused on three main factors: the legal development of the systems of intellectual property protection for plant varieties in the US and Europe&semic the relevant provisions of the international documents that launched those schemes into developing countries&semic and the features and problems surrounding the adoption of those legal systems in the legislation of Argentina and Brazil, two of the largest agricultural producers in the world.}},
author = {{Vergara, José Ignacio}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Intellectual Protection of Plant Varieties: Evolution and Adaptation From North to South - The Cases of Argentina and Brazil}},
year = {{2009}},
}