Law Commons^™

Patents And Plants: Rethinking The Role Of International Law In Relation To The Appropriation Of Traditional Knowledge Of The Uses Of Plants (Tkup), Ikechi Mgbeoji

PhD Dissertations

Legal control and ownership of plants and traditional knowledge of the uses of plants (TKUP) is often a vexed issue, particularly at the international level because of the conflicting interests of states or groups of states in the matter. The most widely used form of juridical control of plants and TKUP is the patent system which originated in Europe. This thesis rethinks the role of international law and legal concepts, the major patent systems of the world and international agricultural research institutions as they affect legal ownership and control of plants and TKUP. The analysis is cast in various contexts …

Is Genetic Use Restriction Technology (Gurt) A Viable Alternative To The Utility Patent For The Protection And Promotion Of Innovation In Genetically Engineered Agricultural Seeds?, Joseph Rosenblat

PhD Dissertations

Patent protected genetically engineered (GE) agricultural seeds allow farmers to increase the quality and yield of some of the worlds most important food crops. The ability of GE seed firms to use this technology to capture value and promote innovation may be compromised by patent regimes that are not designed to prevent the misappropriation of self-replicating, biologically-based inventions.

Unlike patents, genetic use restriction technology (GURT) provides a primarily self-contained technological method of intellectual property (IP) protection effective in weak IP environments. Currently, GURT is subject to an international commercialization moratorium because of concerns over potential negative economic, environmental, health and …

'Pyrates' Of The Lyceum: Big Pharma, Patents, And Academic Freedom In Neoliberal Times, James Mcgillivray

PhD Dissertations

Academic freedom and freedom of expression are threatened by the corporatised university. As neoliberal policies embed themselves in all aspects of public (if not private) life, freedom of expression and academic freedom are being degraded and denigrated in the university, in the popular press, in the law, and in public life. The influence of intellectual property rights and proprietary claims surrounding patents are muzzling freedom of thought by corporate interests. Universities and the freedom of academic researchers to explore their fields have become casualties on this neoliberal battlefield. This political economy seeks to expose the free market contagion involved with …

Geographical Indications And Development In The Third World: Towards A Strategic Approach Of Intellectual Property Rights In Jamaica - The Case Of Blue Mountain Coffee, Marsha Simone Cadogan

PhD Dissertations

The dissertation is a critical analysis of, and engagement with agricultural and food based geographical indications, the politics of development and international relations, and the prospects of forming reformist linkages between geographical indications and development in Jamaica and the Caribbeans intellectual property landscape. A net importer of intellectual property, Jamaica has yet to fully claim intellectual property as its own.

The dissertation proposes that geographical indication schemes should be envisaged, and practically function as part of Jamaicas development policy. This approach calls for a reformist approach to intellectual property in Jamaica, which includes an awareness of the pitfalls of being …

Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, And Biodiversity In The Global Economy: The Potential Of Geographical Indications For Protecting Traditional Knowledge-Based Agricultural Products, Teshager W. Dagne

PhD Dissertations

The relationship between international regimes regulating intellectual property, traditional knowledge and biodiversity has received much attention in recent times. Of the many complex and controversial issues in contemporary international legal discourse on this matter, the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) stands out as a significant challenge. Choices abound in the search for modalities to regulate rights to use and control TK systems and their underlying biodiversity. In recent times, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) has emerged as an option for protecting TK. Despite the considerable enthusiasm over it, there is appreciable research dearth on how far and in what …