Die amputierte Wiedereinbettung geistiger Eigentumsrechte an genetischen Ressourcen Das Fallbeispiel Brasilien

Abstract

The “Amputated” Re-embedding of Intellectual Property Rights in Genetic Resources. The Case of Brazil
In 2010, after prolonged negotiations, the Nagoya Protocol – and with it, a central mechanism for access and benefit sharing (ABS) – was adopted. The Nagoya Protocol aims to end biopiracy, which refers to the appropriation and patenting of knowledge about plants by pharmaceutical or agricultural companies. It seeks to limit biopiracy by regulating access to genetic resources and ensuring that local knowledge holders receive a share of the profits derived from such appropriations. Drawing on a sociological understandings of property and an interpretation of Karl Polanyi, we argue that the ABS mechanism is the outcome of decades of negotiation between market forces, states from the Global South, and social movements over the social re-embedding or social regulation of intellectual property rights. Against this background, we examine how the social re-embedding or social regulation of intellectual property succeeds and observe an “amputated” re-embedding of private intellectual property. Although Nagoya as an international norm acknowledges the importance of Indigenous and Traditional knowledge for the first time, we find no evidence of a substantial social regulation of intellectual property: the exclusive character of private property and the associated commodification processes remain unchallenged and are instead reinforced by the mechanism. Not even the envisaged monetary redistribution through benefit-sharing has been successful at the local level. Despite this, most actors involved see no viable alternative to this form of regulation. We illustrate our argument with a qualitative study on the social negotiations surrounding the implementation of the ABS mechanism in Brazil. Specifically, we focus on the strategy – propagated by many state, private, and civil society actors – of cataloging traditional and Indigenous knowledge through so-called biocultural protocols. The protocols, while well-intentioned, aim to make such knowledge more visible and protect it from biopiracy.
Keywords: Nagoya protocol, intellectual property, genetic resources, social re-embedding, indigenous knowledge, Brazil, Polanyi

Bibliography: Tittor, Anne/Relly, Eduardo/Schlender, Leoni/Backhouse, Maria: Die amputierte Wiedereinbettung geistiger Eigentumsrechte an genetischen Ressourcen. Das Fallbeispiel Brasilien, PERIPHERIE – Politik • Ökonomie • Kultur, Nr. 177-178 (1-2025), pp. 146-166.