| dc.contributor.author | Mgbeoji, Ikechi Chibuzo Maduka. | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-10-21T12:33:46Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2002 | |
| dc.date.available | 2002 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2002 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | AAINQ67650 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10222/55824 | |
| dc.description | Legal control and ownership of plants and traditional knowledge of the uses of plants (TKUP) is often a vexed issue, particularly at the international level because of the conflicting interests of states or groups of states in the matter. The most widely used form of juridical control of plants and TKUP is the patent system which originated in Europe. This thesis rethinks the role of international law and legal concepts, the major patent systems of the world and international agricultural research institutions as they affect legal ownership and control of plants and TKUP. The analysis is cast in various contexts and examined in multiple levels. The first context and level of analysis deals with the Eurocentric character of the patent system, international law and institutions. The second involves the cultural and economic dichotomy between the industrialized Western world, otherwise known as the North and the industrializing world, otherwise known as the South. The North-South divide is not always neat but used here as a convenient tool of analysis. The third considers the phenomenal loss of human culture and plant biodiversity. | en_US |
| dc.description | In examining these issues within the delimited contexts, this thesis makes the argument that the Eurocentric character of the patent system and international law, cultural and gender-biases of Western epistemology and the commercial orientation of the patent system are factors which facilitate and legitimize the appropriation and privatization of plants and TKUP from the South by the North. The thesis also argues that the phenomenon of appropriation thrives in a cultural milieu where non-Western forms of knowledge are continually marginalized and ridiculed as "folk knowledge" or "culture-bound" knowledge. | en_US |
| dc.description | The implications of appropriation of plants and TKUP in an age of rapid biodiversity loss and homogenization of cultures traverse the gamut of sustainability of the earth, human rights and distributive justice. It has therefore become pertinent to re-examine and re-define the role of patents and international law in the emerging process, bearing in mind the complexities of the issues and the imperatives of a fair and equitable regime on plants and TKUP. Given the inter-relatedness of human rights, the commonality of mankind and indivisibility of the global environment, these processes are of universal import and ought to be addressed holistically. This thesis therefore argues that in the interest of our well being, if not very survival, international law and the patent concept must have a socially mediated core and an ethic of respect, inclusiveness and diversity of cultures and values. | en_US |
| dc.description | In substance, this thesis recommends that the patent system may achieve credibility by instituting a regime of absolute standard of novelty for plant and TKUP inventions and strict interpretations of the criteria for patentability. Second, a regime of defensive communal patents should be considered, especially for the benefit of traditional communities. Third, in deciding whether inventions relating to plants should be granted patent protection, the environmental safety and broader human rights implications of such inventions, such as the "right" to food and a safe and sustainable environment should be considered. Lastly, the cultural dichotomy between Western epistemology and non-Western epistemology should no longer be used to as a mechanism for the appropriation of plants and TKUP. | en_US |
| dc.description | Thesis (J.S.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 2002. | en_US |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Dalhousie University | en_US |
| dc.publisher | | en_US |
| dc.subject | Law. | en_US |
| dc.title | Patents and plants: Rethinking the role of international law in relation to the appropriation of traditional knowledge of the uses of plants (TKUP). | en_US |
| dc.type | text | en_US |
| dc.contributor.degree | J.S.D. | en_US |
