Farmers in the IP Wrench - How Patents on Gene-Modified Crops Violate the Right to Food in Developing Countries

Authors

Peter Straub

Abstract

Patented gene-modified crop seeds have a growing impact on how farming is done in the countries where they are sold and used. Modem patent regimes make all plants and plant material containing modified gene-material subject to the intellectual property rights of transnational corporations. Farmers are then faced with the choice of either entering into licensing agreements, or becoming patent infringers-with all the legal consequences-by marketing the fruits of their labor. This article examines how socioeconomic rights-especially the right to food as defined by Article 11.2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)-of small-hold subsistence farmers in developing countries are, or might be, affected by this development.

Recommended Citation

Peter Straub, Farmers in the IP Wrench - How Patents on Gene-Modified Crops Violate the Right to Food in Developing Countries, 29 Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 187 (2006).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_international_comparative_law_review/vol29/iss2/2