Abstract
The United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a diplomatic conference in May 2024 where participants adopted a historic new treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge. The treaty is intended to improve the patent system by preventing erroneous patents that are derived from genetic resources and associated knowledge belonging to Indigenous peoples or local communities. The treaty will require contracting parties to establish a new disclosure requirement for patent applicants whose inventions are based on genetic resources or associated traditional knowledge.
This Article focuses on the treaty’s prospective effect on the protection of Indigenous heirloom seeds and traditional knowledge. Although the treaty is an important step forward, further policy changes will be needed to fully protect the rights of Indigenous peoples. In particular, Indigenous peoples possess human rights to their cultural heritage, both material and intangible, that may not be recognized under the current system of intellectual property law that governs innovations in agriculture and plant technology in an effort to enhance crop production and climate adaptation. In this Article, we examine current frameworks of international law and domestic U.S. law, and we also explore the different epistemologies represented by Western intellectual property law and Indigenous customary law. We argue for new governance frameworks that can better protect the cultural heritage values that are well-represented by Indigenous seed keepers in their current efforts for seed rematriation.
