Alcances Y Valoración Del Conocimiento Tradicional

National Cheng Kung University - IMBA
Organizational Theory and Management (組織理論與管理)
Spring 2011 (99學年度第2學期)
Final Paper

GENERAL SCOPES OF THE FREE TRADE ACTS REGARDING THE ASSESSMENT OF THE TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE UNDER GLOBALIZATION OUTLINES

Sebastian Serrano (施日羅), RA6007227

ABSTRACT

This work was made with the purpose of specify concepts, scopes and actions founded intraditional knowledge related to intellectual property and the current patents system. Traditional knowledge is known as the shared and transferred knowledge among members of an indigenous community that is transmitted from one generation to another and exists referenced to their internal organization and government system. This knowledge includes the typical behaviors that often imply an interactionamong the community members, as the local agricultural practices, for example.


The text additionally outlines the scopes of the TRIPS[1] issues, some Free Trade Acts, and builds considerations of the indigenous communities’ role. In addition, the article states the concern about the assessment of this traditional knowledge in the global economy context where the intellectual property gofurther national borders. The text also points out some of the aspects about the role of technology (and the technology transfer) and its helpfulness in the awkward duty of the definition of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.


KEY WORDS: Traditional knowledge, intellectual property, patent, technology, commons, biotechnology, technology transfer.

Note: Some of the referencesand resources used to elaborate this paper were originally in Spanish language, the titles and contents quoted and referenced here were translated by the author, the Spanish titles are shown to facilitate further research.

INTRODUCTION

As an extension of the discussion held during the lecture offered by the Dr. Yung-Nane Yang during his course of “Organizational Theory and Management”, thispaper pretends to use some of the theoretical “tools” conferred during the semester, specially the books by Douglass C. North (Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance), Richard Scott (Organizations: Rational, natural and open systems) and Amitai Etzioni (The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics) since, given the purpose of this undersized research, are the ones that showthe closest affinity to the subject. The conference of Dr. Gaku Mitsumata on traditional commons (A study on Irai (Traditional Commons) and creation of the new types of the Commons in Japan), presented on the International Conference for Environmental Governance, June/2011, National Cheng Kung University was also a big inspiration and a very appropriate general theoretical reference.

1. GENERALSCOPES DISCUSSED ON THE TRIPS AND OTHER ACTS

This section, besides making some references to several TRIPS texts, it also describe some initial actions undertook by other similar institutions[2] and collective groups that have manifested opinions that pertain the handling and assessment of the traditional knowledge.

Under the scope outlined by the WTO, the subject that regards the protectionof the traditional knowledge has been hand over to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that is intimate related with the Convention on Biological Diversity[3].
The actions undertaken by these institutions “open the possibility for the traditional knowledge to be protected by means of modern rights on intellectual property. Nevertheless, they still leavethe formulation of a complex and definitive collection of norms about this matter to the autonomy of each country”[4].
So, to accomplish this, the international Trade Agreements must specify the scopes that pertain to this matter. The study of the activities of the Convention on Biological Diversity can be approached from a broad perspective to the critical groundwork for the preservation,...