Bioethics and Biotechnology Related Intellectual Property and Intellectual Property Rights in Zimbabwe: Issues and Opportunities for Development (original) (raw)
Related papers
Rights and risk : challenging biotechnology policy in Zimbabwe
2003
is a constitutional lawyer specialising in human rights, development and environmental law and is engaged in both research work and law and policy development. She has worked with governments in the southern African region, multilateral institutions and donors in reforming and developing law to make it more socially responsive. Her primary research interest is the implications of human rights law for environmental management and public rights. She was previously a lecturer in law at the University of Zimbabwe but now works independently. She is a member of the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Commission on Environmental Law and also its specialist group on water.
Jama The Journal Of The American Medical …, 2007
The biotechnology industry has in recent years come under attack from an ethical point of view concerning its intellectual property rights and the non accessibility of life-saving products for many of the poor in less developed countries and developing countries. The industry has replied with economic and legal justifications for its actions. The result has been a communication gap between the industry on the one hand and low income nations critics on the other. This paper attempts to present and evaluate the arguments on many sides and suggests a possible way out of the current impasse. It attempts to determine the ethical responsibility of the biotechnology industry in making products available to the needy, while at the same time developing the parallel responsibilities of individuals, governments, and NGOs. It concludes with the suggestion that the industry develop an international code for its self-regulation.
1993
Policymakers in developing countries responsible for national agricultural research are considering the implications of adopting intellectual property rights for biotechnology. The impetus for these deliberations comes from many factors, including the desire of developing countries to acquire and use new technologies in agricultural research, and the pressure exerted on developing countries in international negotiations to strengthen their intellectual property legislation. In this report, the introductory chapters summarize the increasing significance of intellectual property rights for agricultural biotechnology and current international trade- and development-related debates on IPR and developing-country responses to these issues. An analysis is then provided of the complexities, options and implications regarding intellectual property rights in relation to three national technology objectives: acquiring either public or proprietary biotechnologies, developing and protecting national innovations, and choices for technology transfer and licensing.
Lessons from the Interaction of Biotechnology, Intellectual Property and World Needs
Minnesota journal of law, science & technology, 2004
Intellectual property in agricultural biotechnology has spurred vigorous public debate over the global impact of advanced research in the life sciences. The University of Minnesota is not only a significant source of cutting-edge research, it is also a neutral forum for public debate. As the host of an April 29, 2004 conference, called “Intellectual Property Rights for the Public Good: Obligations of U.S. Universities to Developing Countries,” the University of Minnesota has taken the lead in examining the economic, societal, and ethical implications of its agricultural research.1 Resolving debates over intellectual property in agricultural technology is more than just a theoretical exercise. The ability to feed a growing population may rest on ensuring that the developing world receives and adopts new technology. Sharing that technology is a complex matter that involves social justice and academic ethics. My education in intellectual property and the development of genetic engineer...
Till recently, life forms used to be exempted from patenting. However, developments in biotechnology are compelling for revising the approach towards the intellectual property rights regime applicable to the filed of biotechnology. Such changes in approach covers a wide range of issues, such as the range of product patents and the patentability of genes, gene sequences and parts of gene-sequences derived from human, animals, plants or microorganisms. Moreover, patenting, especially of human body parts, has posed an ethical limit for biotechnology itself. Consequently, in the light of these developments in biotechnology, the profile of patent regime is fast changing, especially in the developed world. The international trade regime under WTO is yet to address these challenges emanating from advancements in biotechnology. As uncertainty continues with regard to the meaning of the term ‘microorganism’ and the difference between ‘biological’ and ‘microbiological’ processes, some countries argue at TRIPS forum that life forms and living creatures should not be patented raising moral and ethical issues. Some developing countries argue that the TRIPS Agreement should specifically take account of issues, like allowing farmers to save, use, sow, exchange and share the seeds they have harvested and preventing anti-competitive practices, which threaten their ‘food sovereignty’. Many developing countries are yet to put in place national legislations to position themselves vis-à-vis international negotiations at the WTO, which calls for consistent support and capacity building exercises by the international community to enable them to overcome the infrastructural and institutional hurdles. This paper attempts to critically analyze various dimensions of intellectual property right issues, which relate to the filed of biotechnology, and tries to highlight the developing countries perspective in this regard with a focus on India, on these matters.
Intellectual property rights: Key to access or entry barrier for developing countries
1994
Implementation of an innovation-system approach is critical to facilitate the adaptation and assimilation of biotechnology developed in other countries. Protection of IPR will play an important role creating a safe climate for technology transfer and needs to involve a close relationships between science, technology and the market to foster innovations and their dissemination. Sound policies are needed to ensure that researchers, enterprises, NGOs and farmers can participate
The Importance of Patenting Traditional Medicines in Africa: the case of Zimbabwe
2013
This paper brings out the importance of creating domestic legislative structures that seek to protect traditional medicine and associated traditional knowledge (TK) in Zimbabwe. Traditional medicines are important to Zimbabwe’s primary health care system, with an estimated 80% of the country’s population relying on traditional herbal therapies. However, there are various challenges that are associated with integrating traditional medicines with the conventional health care system and these include the absence of clinical tests to ascertain the safety and efficacy of some of the drugs. The paper takes a scope at the current Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) system with particular emphasis on the Patent law. Due to the absence of sound policies that protect the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in developing countries, issues of bio-piracy and bio-prospecting have been on the rise. As such there is need for developing countries to formulate their own IKS policies and patenting syste...