.THE EVALUATION OF BIOPIRACY AND PATENTS ON BIODIVERSITY IN THE LIGHT OF TRADE RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AGREEMENT(TRIPS) OF WTO

Over the past two decades the role of intellectual propertyRights in all areas of science and technology has explodedglobally – primarily due to rules prescribed by the WorldTrade Organization’s TRIPS and by bilateral/regionaltrade agreements. The TRIPS agreement obligates allWTO member countries to adopt and enforce minimumstandards of intellectual property rights. The TRIPSAgreement requires member countries to make patentsavailable for inventions, whether products or processes,in all fields of technology without discrimination, subjectto the standard patent criteria (novelty, inventiveness andindustrial applicability).During the negotiations on the TRIPS Agreement,consensus was not reached on the controversial area ofbiotechnological inventions. The United States and someother developed countries pushed for no exclusions topatentability, while some developing country memberspreferred to exclude all biological diversity-relatedinventions from IP laws. For many developing countriesthe patenting of life forms and exclusive monopolyprotection on biological products and processes thatoriginate in developing countries (or that are based ontraditional knowledge) continues to be controversial.The major genetic resources are in the southern statesand so, many companies are seeking to access to genes,microbes, plants, animals and even native human populations to seize them as a monopoly product.Critics call the establishment of intellectual propertyrights to these resources for the industrial countriesbiopiracy and know the obligation of developing nationsto pay royalties to wealthy industrial countries for theproducts that obtained from their own genetic resourcesand traditional knowledge biological colonialism .Pharmaceutical industries are the biggest thieves ofgenetic and natural resources at the international level.This is the third world countries’ responsibility whilepreserving their vital resources and reserves, ensureoptimal use of these natural blessings.