People Plants and the Law
Experiences of scientists supporting community engagement regarding crop genetic resources and the law: examples from traditionally based maize systems in North America
ZoomPresented by Daniela Soleri, Alma Piñeyro, and Emmanuel Carlos González Ortega. In situ conserved crop genetic resources (CGRs) occur in the form of native or local crop varieties, developed and cultivated by peasant/farming communities, including indigenous communities across North America. The global significance of these CGRs has led to the construction of legal frameworks regarding core issues of access, use,
Re-imagining (Re)production in Intellectual Property Law: Proprietary Fruit and the Making of Botanical Kinds
ZoomPresented by Susannah Chapman. Over the past several decades, many fruit breeding programs have begun to commercialize new varieties via the strategic use to two legal techniques: the use of plant variety protection—coupled with contracts to create small “clubs” of select growers—and the use of branding to foster ready consumer demand for the protected fruit that the club would produce.
Making and Marketing Biocultural Heritage in Agriculture: From the Andean Community to Asia
ZoomPresented by Rosemary Coombe and David Jefferson. Much socio-legal research on intellectual property in relation to food and agriculture focuses on the influence of global policy norms on domestic law-making and the expansion of new international trade opportunities for small-scale producers. Other studies have examined controversies and contestations around government actors claiming foods as manifestations of their national heritage. We
