ASEAN for protecting indigenous/traditional
knowledge (C.Raghavan/SUNS)
Member governments of the ASEAN countries have been
asked, at an ASEAN regional working group meeting, to develop
national legislation on protection of indigenous and/or traditional
knowledge and on that basis formulate an ASEAN position to
be advocated at international level. (5 May 00)
Protecting IPRs of local and
indigenous communities (Someshwar Singh/SUNS)
Four Latin American developing countries have put forward
a proposal for protection of Intellectual Property Rights
of the Traditional Knowledge of local and indigenous communities,
and want the Seattle Ministerial Conference to establish a
mandate for a detailed study and negotiations for multilateral
rules as part of TRIPS.
Legal and practical perspectives
on sui generis options (G.S.Nijar/TWN)
The above paper concludes that it is perfectly possible
for countries to enact a law for community rights outside
of TRIPS which is nonetheless consistent with the TRIPS Agreement.
Further, a sui generis law within TRIPS for plant varieties
which takes into account the innovations of farmers can also
be enacted.
The Model Law of the Organization
of African Unity on Community Rights and on the Control of
Access to Biological Resources
The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) approved the
draft of a model law on "Community Rights and on the Control
of Access to Biological Resources" in its Meeting of the Ministerial
Council, followed by a Summit of Heads of State and government,
in May-June 1998. The above is a brief description of the
process that produced the draft law and its comparison to
the CBD.
