Global Biopiracy: Patents, Plans and Indigenous Knowledge (Ikechi Mgbeoju)

• Author: Christopher Peng
• Position: Is a third year law student at the University of Victoria
• Pages: 95-98

APPEAL VOLUME 13 n 95

BOOK REVIEW

GLOBAL BIOPIRACY: PATENTS, PLANTS, AND

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

BY IKECHI MGBEOJI

Reviewed By Christopher Peng*

CITED: (2008) 13 Appeal 95-98

Legal control and ownership of plants and traditional (indigenous) knowl-

edge of the uses of plants (TKUP) is often a vexing issue, particularly at the

international level, because of the conf‌licting interests of states or groups of

states. The most widely used form of juridical control of plants and TKUP is

the patent system, which originated in Europe. This book rethinks the role of

international law and legal concepts, the major patent systems of the world,

and international agricultural institutions as they affect legal ownership and

control of plants and TKUP.1

Two important aspects of property law are the rights given to property owners and the

eligible subject matter to which those rights may apply. These aspects of property law vary

from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some cultures emphasize the importance of private ownership

by granting a broad scope of rights to a large variety of subject matter. In other cultures, the

concept of private ownership is alien because property is held communally.2 Given these types

of fundamental differences, conf‌licts are bound to arise where there is increasing interaction

between cultures.

Global Biopiracy examines a very specif‌ic area of property law where tension between

different legal regimes exists. It discusses how patent and plant breeder’s rights are used by the

more developed countries (referred to as states of the North) to misappropriate the plants and

TKUP from less developed countries (referred to as states of the South).

Global Biopiracy provides a very detailed and thorough explanation of the development of

the modern patent system and its effect on plants and TKUP. To accomplish this, Ikechi Mgbeoji

considers evidence from a variety of different disciplinary perspectives. For example, he consid-

ers legal perspectives when he discusses the international law concept of the Common Heri-

tage of Mankind (CHM),3 political perspectives when he discusses the backdrop against which

the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement was included in the 1994

amendment to the general World Trade Organization agreement, anthropological perspectives

* Christopher Peng is a third year law student at the University of Victoria.

1 Ikechi Mgbeoji, Global Biopiracy: Patents, Plants, and Indigenous Knowledge, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006) at xi [Global

Biopiracy].

2 For example, Aboriginal title in Canada.

3 See generally John Currie, Public International Law, (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2001) at 230.