为什么我们必须战斗

马丁·霍尔（Martin Khor）认为，需要一项重大努力来防止知识产权规则破坏对可持续发展至关重要的土著知识。

Martin Khor is director of the Third World Network — a non-profit international network that researches, publishes on, and organises events about issues relating to development — which is based in Malaysia.

Indigenous knowledge (IK) is now widely recognised as vital for ecological and social sustainability. Yet too often, the rights of the holders and practitioners of such knowledge are not respected by those seeking to make use of it. Indeed, these rights are being eroded, in particular by the invasion of the modern intellectual property system into the domain of IK. Action is urgently needed to reverse this process.

IK对我们实现生物资源可持续使用能力的经济贡献是巨大的。例如，根据一项估计，在1990年代初期，在全球制药行业中使用的发展中国家的种质至少价值320亿美元。然而，发展中国家仅收到一分钟的原材料和知识，即它们为世界上一些最大的行业的发展做出了贡献。

同样令人发指的事实是，来自发达国家的公司和机构正在利用知识产权（IPRS）来滥用当地社区的IK。

例如，自1995年世界贸易组织（WTO）建立与贸易相关的知识产权（TRIP）协议以来，生命表格的专利已大大增加至少某些生命形式（即微生物）和一些生活过程（即微生物过程）。它还需要通过专利保护植物品种或通过“有效Sui Generissystem” — a reference to an independently created system developed by a government.

This part of TRIPS has been a major mistake. It has opened the floodgates to the patenting of biological resources, and of IK about the use of these resources. In broad terms, biopiracy removes the rights of communities (mostly in developing countries) and instead supports the rights of private institutions (mostly in developed countries) that are granted patents.

These IPR holders are able to make monopoly profits by commercialising the patented products and the IK associated with them. In contrast, the local communities that developed or made use of the knowledge in the first place — and should therefore be considered as the rightful owners — usually get no benefit.

如果专利的过程或产品在其起源非常发展的国家以高价出售产品，就会出现更具讽刺意味的情况。的确，这种生物仪式形式创造了一种“反向技术转移”的形式，因为贫穷的发展中国家将知识和技术转移给了富裕的发达国家。

But the developing countries involved get scant reward for their contributions; and indeed may eventually have to pay institutions in the rich countries a high price (itself sustained by monopolistic IPRs) for the use of the product or process, potentially creating a large drain on developing countries’ foreign exchange, and adding to their foreign debt.

Another problem is the way in which the patenting of biological resources restricts or prevents other producers from using processes and products related to traditional knowledge. For example, a corporation that has successfully applied for a patent on the use of a plant for certain functions could try to prevent others from using it in the same way. As a result, those who have been using traditional knowledge for many generations could face restrictions on doing so in the future.

Typical examples include a US patent on the use of turmeric for healing wounds (although this was successfully challenged by the Indian government), a Japanese patent on the anti-diabetic properties of banana (traditionally used as herbal medicine in the Philippines), and the US patenting of a protein from a native strain of Thai bitter gourd (after Thai scientists found its compounds could be used against HIV infection). Such practices are rapidly eroding the world’s store of traditional knowledge and, in doing so, are undermining the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

专利系统不应用于奖励对生物资源和过程的研究，因为生物在质量上与非生存材料有质量不同，因此与生物过程和材料有关的知识不能像专利立法中所要求一样成为“发明”。

因此，可以采取什么措施来应对强大的公司和机构对IK的盗用？

首先，需要修改涵盖生物体，生物资源及其使用知识的知识产权法规和法规。目前正在审查《 IPR和生物资源》第27.3B条，该协议涉及IPR和生物资源。许多发展中国家，包括非洲集团的发展中国家，建议本节规定活有机体以及生物或生物过程无法获得专利。不幸的是，包括美国和欧盟在内的发达国家反对这一提议。

在采用这种变化之前，各国应采取限制损害的措施，例如，将植物，动物和自然发生的微生物排除在专利性之外。他们应该选择一个Sui Generis植物多样性保护系统，可认可传统知识的作用和价值，以及对农民，土著人民和当地社区的知识的权利。这样的制度可以使参与的国家能够以保护当地社区的知识和创新方式保护植物品种。

几个发展中国家还提出，在涉及生物资源或有关其使用的传统知识的专利申请之前，需要在WTO中引入一项措施，要求事先批准原籍国。这将使原籍国能够防止此类专利申请，或者需要与申请人的福利分享安排。发达国家应支持而不是阻止这一建议。

作为公约的实施的一部分Biological Diversity, developing countries should also establish national arrangements for collecting and using biological resources and the knowledge associated with them, as well as for sharing the benefits from any commercial transactions with those communities which have developed this knowledge.

Unfortunately current efforts by individual countries to review their national laws on intellectual property, in order to bring them in line with their obligations under the TRIPS agreement, is likely to accelerate the biopiracy phenomenon. For this process now requires countries that previously forbade the patenting of life to allow patents on certain types of organisms and living processes.

通过谨慎而聪明的法律和政策选择，发展中国家可以避免由于执行其义务而造成的一些最严重的危险。然而，从长远来看，如果要纠正生物流产及其本地知识的不公正，则必须对多边贸易规则进行基本修订。

相关外部链接：

Third World Network website