Tailoring rights regimes in biotechnology: introducing DRIPS next to THRIPS

The debate on tailoring biotechnologies has concentrated mainly on conceptual and technical aspects of the contribution of biotechnologies to development and ways to improve that. One important aspect is however largely debated in isolation and as such has almost systematically been ignored in actual approaches to redesign technologies. This is the impact of rights over these technologies and the materials that are used and produced, and particular in relation to the impact on the legal use of the technologies by the underprivileged. Tailoring biotechnologies to development objectives has to take into account the rights systems that determine whether, how and by whom the technologies and the derived products (e.g. plant varieties) can be accessed. Different types of rights affect the access to (the products of) biotechnologies by farmers: private rights in the form of intellectual property rights; communal rights in the form of rights on traditional knowledge and other Farmers' Rights, and rights (over genetic resources) based on national sovereignty. These are guided by international agreements, but granted at the national level. Analysing impact of such rights systems on the application of biotechnologies, and proposing solutions to limitations has to take into account both the regulations themselves and the implementation through licensing strategies. Opportunities exist at both levels to tailor the rights to development objectives. At the policy level, due attention should be given to the Development Related Aspects of Intellectual property Rights, even when the policy space is reduced due to stronger demands from trade negotiations. Examples could be taken from e.g. the European Union. In the field of licensing strategies, examples of broad humanitarian licenses and open source strategies deserve due attention. It appears that such openings in the IPR fields are not being developed in developing countries in the field of genetic resource rights. T A I L O R I N G B I O T E C H N O L O G I E S Vol. 3, Issue 2, Summer 2007, pp: 99-114