Patents based on traditional knowledge are often ‘biopiracy’. A new international treaty will finally combat this

  • Written by: Miri (Margaret) Raven, Senior Scientia Lecturer (Research), UNSW Sydney
Patents based on traditional knowledge are often ‘biopiracy’. A new international treaty will finally combat thiswk1003mike / Shutterstock

Last week, at a conference in Geneva, the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation agreed on a new treaty aimed at preventing the for-profit piracy of traditional knowledge.

So-called “biopiracy”, in which companies lift ideas from traditional knowledge and patent them, is a significant...

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