Changing intellectual property regimes: Implications for developing country agriculture

The revolutions in biotechnology and intellectual property protection began in the developed world. The USA led the global transformation of intellectual property protection, and has been the leader in commercialisation of biotechnology in agriculture. Now all members of the World Trade Organization are committed to offer intellectual property protections for agriculture. Will the benefits of agricultural biotechnology proliferate globally as a result? Can we now rely on the dynamism and focus of the private sector to exploit the potential of biotechnology to meet the needs of developing nations? In this paper we look forward, drawing some inferences from the record thus far regarding the future relevance of agricultural biotechnology for developing countries.