Can WIPO see beyond patents?
One of the biggest questions is whether WIPO is merely acting as the handmaiden of WTO or whether it is open to developing creative new options for protecting indigenous knowledge. The WTO promotes patents and if the North gets its way with TRIPs, patents could be the only IPR protection option available to Southern countries. This would be disastrous for Southern governments, and for society as a whole, especially local and indigenous communities. The Western concepts of ownership and innovation on which patents are based are totally incompatible with the way in which many indigenous peoples and local communities view these issues. Patent rights are monopolistic and are designed to reward individual creativity. They are private in nature, preventing people other than the patent holder from access to the innovation or knowledge. In contrast, at a local level most knowledge systems are of a collective nature and depend on continuous exchange of knowledge and resources according to tradi
