UPH CITI Partners with NZCIEL and IIPS Conducts Discussion of Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge

As a developing country, Indonesia has a huge interest and urgent need to protect and manage the sustainable use of its genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore (GRTKF). There are concerns that many valuable assets have already been exploited commercially without permission or acknowledgment. International trade rules and intellectual property protections should certainly figure strongly in any discussion of the protection of GRTKF.

Referring to those issues, UPH?s Center for International Trade and Investments (CITI) in partnership with the New Zealand Center of International Economic Law (NZCIEL) and Indonesian Intellectual Property Society (IIPS), as well as UPH Doctor of Law program hosted a focus group discussion on ?Domestic and International Dimensions of Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge? on June 16^th, 2015 at UPH Executive Education Center (EEC), Aryaduta Suites Semanggi. The discussion was attended by 35 participants from graduate and doctoral students, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ERIA, Embassy of South Africa, and others, presented two speakers, Prof. A. Zen Umar Purba, a current faculty member at University of Indonesia?s Law department teaching inter alia International Business Transactions and Intellectual  Property Rights (?IPR?) who was also the Director General of Intellectual Property Rights of the Indonesian Department (Ministry) of Justice and Human Rights and Professor Susy Frankel a Professor of Law at Victoria University of Wellington and the Director of the NZCIE, as well as guided by Michelle Limenta, Deputy Director of CITI as Moderator.

After the opening remarks by Prof. Bintan Saragih, Dean of UPH Law School, the discussion was started off by Professor Susy Frankel who presented the various ways the international community has addressed the issue of intellectual property rights with regard to genetic resources and traditional knowledge with discussions in World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) regarding patent and traditional knowledge overlap. In addition to the Convention on Biodiversity and the Nagoya protocol it certainly seems that the international trade and development community has taken notice of the issue of Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge (GRTK) and have taken steps to protect the traditional knowledge of many cultures. Professor Frankel also emphasized the importance of the interface process of IPR in the divide between GRTK and the process of IPR particularly on the objection to registration and the disclosure of origin. She continues on to the TRIPS agreement and its statute that mandates to prevent bio piracy by mandating disclosure. Unfortunately the TRIPS does not prevent Bio Piracy, nor does it contain any requirement of prior informed consent or fair and equitable sharing of benefits. Thus begs the question, is the international community just offering a reactive policy? Both speakers agreed that until this point the international discussion has driven the domestic debate, when actually the discussion domestically should be the primary focus.