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Intellectual Property and Human Development
2013 Seminar Series
PIIPA is pleased to announce its 2013 Global Forum Seminar Series that focuses on the role of intellectual property in human development in emerging economies. Each seminar will provide tools and case studies to meet the practical demands of developing countries and public interest organizations. If you are interested in becoming an financial underwriter for one or more of the seminars the sponsorship package can be downloaded here.
June 6, 2013
9:30 – 12:00 pm
The Role of Intellectual Property in Food Security in Developing Countries
Food security is a major problem in low and middle-income developing countries. At a basic level, food security is about fulfilling each individual’s human right to food. This basic human right to food security also relates to issues of agricultural policy, economic development and trade. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have become increasingly important in the past couple of decades in agricultural biotechnology where IPRs provide a basic incentive for the development of the private sector. The extension of IPRs to agriculture is of special significance because agriculture and food security are interlinked to the realization of basic food needs. In this context the seminar will discuss Linking agricultural biodiversity and food security Plant breeders rights versus The free exchange of germplasm.
Featured Guests:
June Blalock
Technology Licensing Program Coordinator, USDA, ARS, Office of Technology Transfer
Dr. David J. Spielman
Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute
Dr. Rob Bertram
USAID’s Director of the Office of Agricultural Research and Policy
Register Today!
Space is limited. Student rates available.
On March 27, 2013 PIIPA held a seminar on The Role of Intellectual Property in Public Health in Developing Countries. The discussion focused on way to build and improve capacity to encourage public health innovation and the management of technology transfer. Our blue ribbon panel of speakers included Dr. Rita Khanna, General Counsel at the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation; Dr. Kechi Achebe, Director of the Office for Health & HIV/AIDS at Africare; Dr. Mark L. Rohrbaugh, Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the National Institutes of Health; and Suzanne Seavello Shope, Director of the Technology Transfer Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The presentations can be downloaded here.
Save the Dates for the Future Seminars!
September 24, 2013
The Role of Intellectual Property in Biodiversity Protection
Topics: The relationship between intellectual property rights and access and benefit-sharing arrangements and The relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity
December 3, 2013
The Role of Intellectual Property in Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions
Topics: Protecting the economic and cultural assets of indigenous and local communities and their countries and What does “Protection” mean? Who benefits?
Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors, Inc. (PIIPA) is an international nonprofit organization that provides pro bono intellectual property (IP) legal counsel to governments, businesses, indigenous peoples, and public interest organizations in developing countries that seek to promote health, agriculture, biodiversity, science, culture, and the environment.
The modern economy is a knowledge based economy which relies not only on physical property rights but also on intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights are exclusive rights over creations of the mind. These include inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. The world economy has come to depend on IP goods – from software and pharmaceuticals to cell phones, traditional knowledge and genetic resources. In many ways, intellectual property rights play a similar role to physical property rights. Secure intellectual property rights create incentives for innovation just as secure property rights create incentives for production.
Intellectual property laws, like all legal systems, work best when everyone has opportunity to access the legal system and receive the protections of these laws. The problem is that only a fraction of the world’s population currently has the knowledge and/or means necessary to access the intellectual property legal system and use these laws.
PIIPA was created to address the intellectual property inequities that exist in the global economy.
This book examines the social impact of intellectual property laws. It addresses issues and
trends relating to health, food security, education, new technologies, preservation of
bio-cultural heritage, and contemporary challenges in promoting the arts. It explores
how intellectual property frameworks could be better calibrated to meet socioeconomic
needs in countries at different stages of development, with local contexts and culture in
mind. Read more...
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