Maximizing the differentiation principle in regional IP treaties to advance food security: Limitations in West Africa's regional IP and trade regime

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, I examine whether the contemporary regional intellectual property (IP) agreements negotiated by West African countries are more suitable than multilateral agreements to advance food security in the region, based on the provisions they make for applying the differentiation principle. In this paper, the term “West Africa” is used to designate the 15 countries that are members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the major regional organization in the area (The founding members of ECOWAS were: Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea‐Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania [left 2002], Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Burkina Faso [which joined as Upper Volta]. Cape Verde joined in 1977). By reviewing relevant literature and theories, I propose that the human right to development as a differentiating paradigm may be applied in IP regulation, without compromising the requirement of nondiscrimination in IP regimes. I argue that human rights linked to the food security should be differentiated from the proprietary rights granted in IP. After critical doctrinal analysis of West Africa's regional agreements related to IP rights and food security, I conclude that rather than maximising the adoption of the differentiation principle to advance the regions food security, these treaties are surprisingly less flexible than multilateral agreements, creating further challenges for food security in the region. Consequently, I propose an alternative regional framework for differentiation, that allows for differentiation between IP and human rights norms based on the instrumentalist approach to law, as being more suitable for advancing development and food security in West Africa.