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MIHR
PIPRA
Fiocruz, Brazil
bioDevelopments- Institute
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WATAL, Jayashree
Jayashree Watal has been a Counsellor in the Intellectual Property Division of the WTO since February 2001. Ms. Watal has more than 22 years of experience working in the Indian government; for ten of those years, she was devoted to policy, diplomacy, research, and administration on intellectual property rights. She worked in the Indian Ministry of Commerce as Director of the Trade Policy Division in New Delhi from 1995 to 1998, representing India at a crucial stage in the Uruguay Round TRIPS negotiations in 1989-90.
She has researched and published articles on issues related to intellectual property rights, including a book, Intellectual Property Rights in the WTO and Developing Countries (Oxford University Press, India and Kluwer Law International, 2001). She was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Development at Harvard University (2000), the Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C. (Oct. 1998-August 2000), and the George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C. (1997-2000).
 Abstract
The TRIPS Agreement and Intellectual Property in Health and Agriculture
Abstract:
This chapter sets out the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as related to intellectual property in health and agriculture and the policy work done in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The first part focuses on matters related to public health, including the protection of patents and undisclosed information. An overview is given of the three key instruments addressing the flexibilities available to Members of the WTO: the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, the Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of this Declaration, and the Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement. The second part looks into TRIPS provisions relevant to agriculture and sets out the issues reviewed in the Council for TRIPS with respect to optional exclusions to patentability and the protection to be given to plant varieties. The second part also addresses work related to the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), including the suggested introduction of a disclosure requirement into the patent system, as well as the protection of traditional knowledge. In addition, two issues relating to geographical indications are taken up, namely, the ongoing negotiations on the establishment of a multilateral register of geographical indications for wines and spirits, and the extension of the higher level of protection currently available for wines and spirits to other products. To complete the picture, the third part discusses WTO programs aimed at enhancing capacities in the developing world with respect to the TRIPS Agreement.
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