Intellectual Property Rights and the North-South Contest for Agricultural Germplasm: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

This article examines intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes as they apply to agricultural germplasm in the context of global North-South relations. The issue is pertinent particularly since TRIPs (Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) became enshrined in the statutes of the World Trade Organization in 1994, institutionalizing the notion of ‘germplasm as property’ throughout the globe. Yet, the idea of ‘germplasm as property’ is a notion culturally specific to the global North historically. It is perhaps no surprise that many germplasm patents are being held on biological matter that originated in the South–in the Vavilovian ‘centers of diversity’. This paradox situates the contest over biodiversity resources in a world-historic context and undermines the declared reasons for germplasm IPRs. Besides, more than just a North-South conflict over resources, this episode features also a confrontation between competing worldviews of nature-human relations.