Protecting Traditional Knowledge The WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore

Foreword 

1. Introduction: Mapping the Evolution, State-of-play and Future of the WIPO IGC 

2. Revisiting the Creation of the IGC: The Limits of Constructive Ambiguity? 

3. The Evolution of the IGC from 2001 to 2016: An Insider’s Perspective 

4. Relationships between the Work of the IGC and Other Forums 

5. Of Disclosure "Straws" and IP System "Camels": Patents, Innovation, and the Disclosure of Origin Requirement 

6. The Role of Databases, Contracts and Codes of Conduct 

7. The Legal Protection of Widely Shared and Dispersed Traditional Knowledge   

8. Negotiating the Public Domain in an International Framework for Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions 

9. Traditional Cultural Expressions 

10. Now You See It Now You Don’t: The Rise and Fall of Customary Law in the IGC    

11. An Indigenous Perspective on the WIPO IGC 

12. Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Disclosure Obligations: Some Observations from the Life Science Industry  

Dominic Muyldermans 

13. Indigenous Culture and Indigenous Publishing: Balancing Protection, Preservation and Promotion 

14. Disclosure Requirements: Switzerland’s Perspective 

15. India’s Position in the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Traditional Knowledge 

16. The WIPO IGC: A US Perspective 

17. Access and Benefit Sharing, Intellectual Property Rights and the Protection of Traditional Knowledge in Costa Rica: Participation in and Possible Impacts of the IGC’s Work 

18. New Zealand, Mātauranga Māori and the IGC 

19. Preferential Trade Agreements and the Protection of Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge 

20. WIPO and the Traditional Knowledge Conundrum 

21. The Challenge of Cross-Border Protection of Traditional Knowledge 

22. Should We Protect Turmeric Lattes? 

23. Ramifications of WIPO IGC for IP and Development 

Chidi Oguamanam

Biography

Daniel F. Robinson is Research Fellow at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) Geneva, Switzerland and Associate Professor in Environmental Studies at The University of New South Wales, Australia.

Ahmed Abdel-Latif is Special Assistant for Policy and Programme in the Office of the Director General at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Pedro Roffe is Senior Associate in Innovation, Technology and Intellectual Property at ICTSD, Geneva, Switzerland.

"A new book with contributions from key thinkers on the subject details the long history and intensive negotiations of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, making a case for conclusion of binding international agreements in these areas as a way to close important gaps in intellectual property policy." - William New, Intellectual Property Watch (August 2017)

"The WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore is a highly recommended contribution for students, academics and policy-makers. The book effectively systematizes the background and evolution of nearly two decades of IGC’s work and provides a vision into the future. One of the main merits of the book is that it explains in simple terms complex legal, economic, institutional, diplomatic and ethical implications of the relationship between intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional knowledge." - Miguel Ángel Elizalde Carranza, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain