Role of IPR in the Protection of Biodiversity

Introduction

IPRs, as the name indicates, grant legal protection to ideas and information used to create new products or procedures. In return for being required to provide the formula or strategy behind the product/process, these rights allow the holder to prevent imitators from commercializing?the innovations or processes for a specified period of time. IPRs' stated goal is to promote innovation by providing greater financial rewards than the market would otherwise be able to.

While IPRs like copyrights, patents, and trademarks have existed for millennia, the extension of IPRs to living things and the associated information and technology has just lately.

The legal protection provided by intellectual property rights extends to concepts and knowledge that can be used for novel procedures and innovations. Intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, and copyrights, have been around for centuries, but IPRs that extend to living things are relatively recent.

The term "biodiversity" refers to the variability among living things that come from all sources and the environmental systems to which they belong. It also includes ecosystem diversity as well as inter- and intraspecies diversity. Human existence benefits from biodiversity, which also offers a viable route to accomplishing developmental objectives. Intellectual property rights are the means through which creators and the originals of inventions, ideas, goods, etc. are protected from being used for profit. Given that innovations and goods are created from the resources found in biodiversity, both of these ideas are highly interdependent.

States have sovereign power over the biological resources located within their borders and are required to guarantee the preservation and sustainable use of such resources, according to the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) principles that are particularly pertinent to biological sources and IPRs. States may restrict access to biological resources, but they must also work to improve the circumstances for such access. Such access is given in accordance with mutually agreed-upon terms and is contingent upon the party granting such access's informed prior agreement. The party offering such access shall benefit from the commercialization of genetic information in a fair and equitable manner. Indigenous and other local groups' knowledge, ideas, and practices must be used with their consent if they are to be more widely used.

IPR effects on biodiversity

The social and economic effects of IPRs and their significance may be readily observed in emerging nations, and one of the most significant effects is the rights, such as patents. The patent on novel variety seeds gives the nations that produce them a certain amount of sovereign rights for their sustainable usage. The major arguments were in a negative light and stated, "The tendency to homogenize agricultural diversity; Displacement of native and traditional crops; Restriction to exports of traditional medicinal plants (thereby impacting in situ conservation efforts);" "And there were various arguments in which that are constantly made with regard to the ambit of the need for IPR on Biodiversity."

How IPR is a necessity for biodiversity?

All life is included in biodiversity. Its genetic information needs to be protected and preserved because man has begun exploiting the natural biodiversity for his own benefit, which has caused the extinction of some species, and endangered and threatened some of the species that are on the verge of extinction, such as modified living organisms and newly discovered species of flora and fauna. Because of this, the relevant authorities felt that laws to control, preserve, and safeguard biodiversity were necessary.

IPR (intellectual property rights) regulations support the commercialization of monoculture and seed production while defending modified microbes and novel plant kinds. In response to compliance with the Convention on Biological Diversity and TRIPS, the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 and the Indian Patent Act of 2002 were made public in order to accomplish this goal (Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights). The TRIPs agreement obligates the nations to modify their intellectual property (IPR) regime in order to comply with greatly improved international standards that can conserve biodiversity and related knowledge systems.

The CBD aims to promote the conservation, preservation, and sustainability of biological diversity's constituent parts. The TRIPS Agreement is intended to "promote effective and appropriate protection of intellectual property rights," according to the preamble. Both accords protect biological diversity for use in the future and guarantee its sustainability. The National Biological Authority of India defends these rights.

IPR's effects on traditional knowledge?

Traditional knowledge is a wide range of knowledge that is developed, sustained, and handed down through generations of people belonging to the same community. Article 8(j) of the CBD provides an expansive explanation of traditional knowledge.

Traditional knowledge has enormous commercial potential as it leads to the creation of beneficial products for society, and also encourages research on the knowledge. The value that the market attaches to a technique or a piece of traditional knowledge does not account for how important it is to the environment. So, the first argument is that mere labeling as per the economic exploitative value of the IPR regime degrades its importance.

The second argument or criticism of the positive interaction is somewhat related to the first but this argument is not based on knowledge being spread. The idea of sustainable development is antithetical to the concept of commercial exploitation. Invoking IPR to say that traditional knowledge that is used will give economic benefit to the community that has the knowledge is not the answer neither for the community nor the environment. Using the IPR regime to allow commercial exploitation to the benefit and ease of all will degrade, and eventually destroy biodiversity.

IPR and CBD

Data within genetic resources has high industrial worth and IPR could be a non-public right. As an incentive to the creator for innovation, IPR grant the holder exclusive rights to stop alternative from employing a product or process. IPR can have an affect who shares within the advantages arising from genetic resources, with implication within the conservation and use of biodiversity.

International Perspective

When examining the function of IPR in the preservation of biodiversity, there are a number of significant factors that must be taken into account, including The World Organization for Intellectual Property (WIPO) Committee on Genetic Resources, Intergovernmental Folklore and traditional knowledge the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: An International Treaty Biological Diversity Convention of 1992 (CBD) TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights).

Indian Perspective and Effect on IPR and Biodiversity

The nation also has 16 other mega-diversities that makeup 7-8% of the global biodiversity. Since 2000, a total of six million hectares of forest have disappeared yearly. The Biological Diversity Act was passed in order to protect biodiversity, guarantee sustainability, and ensure that benefits accruing from the exploitation of biological resources are shared fairly and equitably.

The National Biodiversity Authority is established in Chennai in accordance with this Act to monitor the activities pertaining to Indian biodiversity. In addition, the State Biodiversity Boards have been established in every State. In order to retain a basic record of a region's biological resources, including as plants, animals, and the traditional knowledge of the local people, these local communities are obligated to maintain the People's, Biodiversity Register.

The plaintiff in the illustrious case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty sought to patent a living, artificial microbe. This was a novel type of bacteria that used DNA mechanisms to metabolize hydrocarbons in a way that had never been seen in naturally existing organisms. The patent office (defendant) rejected the plaintiff's application for a patent on the grounds that microorganisms were a byproduct of nature and hence not patentable.

In this instance, the question of whether a living, synthetic microbe may be patented came up. Following the ruling in the case, the US rules now say that biological knowledge, novel plant kinds, and genetically modified microbes are all patentable.

Biodiversity patenting

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 specifically mentions the application of the Act's provisions to intellectual property rights in Section 6 in recognition of the significance of intellectual property rights.

No application for intellectual property rights may be submitted in any nation without first receiving NBA (National Biodiversity Authority) permission, according to this provision. According to the act's first clause, if an application is submitted, NBA approval may be sought after the patent has been accepted but before it has been granted by the relevant patent authority.

Conclusion

IPRs grant legal protection to ideas and information used to create new products or procedures. These rights allow the holder to prevent imitators from commercializing the innovations or processes for a specified period of time. IPRs' stated goal is to promote innovation by providing greater financial rewards than the market would otherwise be able to. IPR (intellectual property rights) regulations support the commercialization of monoculture and seed production while defending modified microbes and novel plant kinds. Invoking IPR to say that traditional knowledge that is used will give economic benefit to the community is not the answer neither for the community or the environment. IPR can have an impact on who shares in the advantages arising from genetic resources, with implications for the conservation and use of biodiversity. The nation also has 16 other mega-diversities that makeup 7-8% of the global biodiversity. Since 2000, a total of six million hectares of forest have disappeared yearly. The National Biodiversity Authority is established in Chennai in accordance with this Act to monitor the activities pertaining to Indian biodiversity.