Abstract
Abstract
Biopiracy, defined as misappropriation of biological resources and associated knowledge, has been criticized by developing countries for exploiting their resources and knowledge without their consent. To tackle biopiracy, debates have been ongoing in various international regimes. This article focuses on the international investment regime. In most of the biopiracy cases, multinational corporations (MNCs) obtain and market intellectual property rights, which fall within the category of investment in most of the investment agreements. This enables MNCs to claim the protection of their rights based on resources and knowledge in the investment arbitration if developing countries take action to tackle biopiracy, although it is not always feasible. Therefore, this article aims to discuss how developing countries could protect their rights to resources and knowledge against MNCs in (potential) investment arbitrations.
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Law,Political Science and International Relations