Balancing Access and Benefit Sharing and Legal Protection of Innovations From Bioprospecting

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Abstract
Biodiversity conservation, access and benefit sharing (ABS), and protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) linked to biotechnologies are all internationally agreed—but not necessarily compatible—objectives. The Convention on Biological Diversity aims for a balance between the needs and interests of owners of genetic resources and technology owners. Can current proposals for handling existing IPR legislation, such as disclosure of origin and certificates of legal provenance, contribute to finding a balance between the interests? Will the growing concern for legitimacy in international transactions with genetic resources be helpful to countries providing genetic resources for technological innovation or are the benefits too few? The article concludes that the success of establishing a multilateral system for access and benefit sharing still depends on compatible legislation in user and provider countries to counterbalance strengthened patent protection systems worldwide. Moreover, it is necessary to overcome the old schism between wildlife conservation and access issues in agricultural biodiversity to boost overall implementation efforts.