Intellectual property rights and access to agbiotech by developing countries

This review addresses the issue of whether global intellectual property protection regimes are hindering access to agricultural biotechnologies by developing countries. It is assumed that harmonization of worldwide legislation and regulations on intellectual property rights will continue. As such, emphasis is placed on the ways in which developing countries are or should be dealing with these issues. Opportunities arising from an increased availability of information and from little obstruction by patents in the developing world most often do not compensate for the lack of capacity and infrastructure to absorb the technologies. Capacity building is needed in the scientific as much as in the legal aspects of agbiotech in order to take advantage of those opportunities.