[Pirateninfo] Amazon countries team up to tackle biopiracy

[pcl at jpberlin.de]

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Amazon countries team up to tackle biopiracy
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Luisa Massarani
18 July 2005
Source: SciDev.Net

[RIO DE JANEIRO] Representatives from patent offices in six Latin 
American nations that share the Amazon basin have agreed to work 
together against 'biopiracy' - the unauthorised commercial 
exploitation of their native species.
According to the Rio Declaration - signed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 
on 1 July - Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela 
will share information and jointly develop policies to tackle the 
phenomenon.
Along with Colombia and Guyana, the countries are members of the 
Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, which organised the Rio 
meeting. 
They are concerned that researchers could patent drugs and other 
products derived from their native species, including products based 
on traditional knowledge such as herbal medicines, without sharing 
the benefits fairly.
To tackle this threat more efficiently, the countries agreed to 
harmonise their intellectual property laws and share technical 
information included in patents.
The Amazon basin is one of the most biologically diverse regions on 
Earth, with many species found nowhere else on the planet.
The Amazon Cooperation Treaty was created in 1978 to promote 
sustainable development in the region.

http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/amazon-countries-team-up-to-
tackle-biopiracy.cfm

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Amazon Nations Gear Up to Fight Biopiracy
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Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 4 (IPS) - Around 500 products based on plants 
native to Peru are registered in patent offices in the United States, 
Europe and Japan, but many of them may have been produced by breaking 
Peruvian laws on access to biodiversity and traditional knowledge.

This complaint was voiced by Santiago Roca, the president of Peru's 
National Institute for the Defence of Competition and the Protection 
of Intellectual Property, at the first meeting of intellectual 
property officials from the eight Amazon basin countries.

These hundreds of products were derived from just seven native plants 
from Peru, Roca told IPS at the Jun. 30-Jul. 1 meeting in Rio de 
Janeiro, in which officials from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, 
Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela took part.

The statistics on the number of products based on native Peruvian 
plants came from a study by a commission set up by the Peruvian 
government to examine patent registries in Europe, Japan and the 
United States.

The report, which was completed in January, laid the groundwork for 
verifying whether the applications for patents were legal. Roca said 
authorities from his country will now investigate whether patent 
applications infringed Peruvian legislation on access to genetic 
resources, which requires prior consent from and compensation for the 
indigenous communities that possess the traditional knowledge used in 
developing the products.

Peru's ”regime for protection of indigenous peoples' knowledge 
related to biological diversity”, which was adopted in 2002, 
regulates these questions in Peru, and orders remuneration in 
exchange for access to traditional knowledge, which goes into a fund 
to be distributed to the communities involved, he explained.

Of the 500 products, two or three cases of proven legal infractions 
will be selected, to demand the revocation of the patents, and ”the 
success of this first step will set a precedent” that will pave the 
way for a broad offensive against biopiracy, said Roca.

Biopiracy is defined as biological theft, or the unauthorised and 
uncompensated collection of indigenous plants, animals, 
microorganisms, genes or traditional communities' knowledge on 
biological resources by corporations that patent them for their own 
use.

Countries with great biological diversity like those of the Amazon 
jungle must protect that wealth and the knowledge about it held by 
traditional indigenous peoples, just as industrialised nations apply 
pressure around the world to fight the piracy of their products, like 
software, films and albums, Roca argued.

The meeting of intellectual property officials, which was sponsored 
by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO), was a first 
step towards the sharing and exchange of information on biopiracy, 
cooperation and international negotiations on patents.

Achieving effective recognition of ”collective rights” requires an 
effort by all countries, because national laws generally only protect 
the copyright and intellectual property rights of individuals or 
companies, not of the communities that developed the knowledge in the 
first place, said ACTO secretary-general Rosalía Arteaga.

Arteaga said the question calls for debate and reflection among 
countries, especially those with ”mega-biodiversity,” like Bolivia, 
Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

In today's world, new rights are constantly emerging and being 
defined, such as in the field of aeronautics and space activity, 
Arteaga, a former vice-president of Ecuador, commented to IPS.

A pressing question now is obtaining reparations for indigenous 
communities for the knowledge that they have collected over centuries 
and which is being used to develop food products, pharmaceuticals and 
cosmetics, she underlined.

This will be ”a long process,” and is a particularly sensitive issue 
in the Amazon jungle region due to its immense biodiversity, she 
said, pointing out that each hectare of this part of South America 
contains more biological diversity than all of Europe combined.

An emblematic case of the illegal appropriation of biodiversity 
occurred a few years ago in Brazil, when the Japanese company Asahi 
Foods patented the name of an Amazon fruit, cupuazú, which is related 
to cacao.

Legal action that was initially led by non-governmental organisations 
got the patent annulled in Japan and Europe this year.

Brazil's National Institute on Industrial Property has begun to 
inform its counterparts around the world of the names of Amazon 
jungle plants in order to prevent further cases of inappropriate 
registration of patents, said Roberto Jaguaribe, secretary of 
industrial technology in Brazil's Development Ministry.

Peru's experience could make a significant contribution to Brazil's 
struggle in this area, since many species are shared by both 
countries, like the ”quiebra piedra” (literally ”stone breaker”) 
plant used to make herbal tea for people suffering from kidney stones 
or gallstones, said Jaguaribe, who called for joint international 
legal action against biopiracy.

One hurdle to cooperation in this area is the diversity of national 
legislation. For that reason, future meetings of intellectual 
property officials from the Amazon nations will focus on the 
”harmonisation of laws,” Arteaga announced. (END/2005) 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29334

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Peru complains about Western biopiracy
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By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL 
Published July 7, 2005 
LIMA -- Peru is complaining that foreign companies are committing 
"biopiracy" of indigenous plant species. 
     
    The Inter press Service reported that President of Peru's 
National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection 
of Intellectual Property, Santiago Roca, complained that around 500 
products based on plants native to Peru are registered in U.S., 
European and Japanese patent offices, but apparently many of them 
were produced in violation of Peruvian laws on access to biodiversity 
and traditional knowledge. 
  
    Roca aired his complaint at the first meeting of intellectual 
property officials from the eight Amazon basin countries in Rio de 
Janeiro. According to Roca the products were derived from just seven 
indigenous Peruvian plants. 
     
    Officials from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, 
Surinam and Venezuela attended the conference. A Peruvian government 
commission to examine patent registries in Europe, Japan and the 
United States compiled the statistics. 
     
    Roca said Peruvian authorities are investigating whether patent 
applications infringed Peruvian legislation on access to genetic 
resources, which requires prior consent from, and compensation for, 
the indigenous communities that possess the traditional knowledge 
used in the products' development. Peru's 2002 "Regime for Protection 
of Indigenous Peoples' Knowledge Related to Biological Diversity" 
orders compensation be paid in exchange for access to traditional 
knowledge. 
     
    The money would be distributed to the communities involved, he 
said. 
     
    According to Roca, the government will select two or three cases 
of proven legal infractions after which it would demand the 
revocation of the patents, and "the success of this first step will 
set a precedent," paving the way for a broad offensive against 
biopiracy.

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050707-043200-6595r