Q.What is Biopiracy?

Unauthorised commercial exploitation of a nation's bioresources/traditional knowledge without permission or benefit-sharing is called biopiracy.

Biopiracy is the unethical, uncompensated exploitation of a country's biological resources and indigenous knowledge by outside organisations.

Biopiracy refers to the practice in which organisations (often multinational companies) exploit the biodiversity resources and traditional/indigenous knowledge of a biodiversity-rich country (such as India) without proper authorisation from the country or its people, and without paying any compensation for their use — for example, patenting the medicinal or pesticidal properties of plants like neem or turmeric that were already known and used traditionally by local communities. It raises serious ethical, legal and economic concerns, prompting nations to enact biodivers …

Biopiracy is the unauthorised exploitation of a country's biological resources or traditional knowledge, typically without consent or fair compensation.

Biopiracy refers to the practice in which organisations or individuals (often from developed nations) use the biodiversity resources and/or traditional knowledge of another country (typically a biodiversity-rich developing nation) without proper authorisation or fair compensation to that country and its indigenous communities, often subsequently patenting products derived from those resources. Biopatent (b) is the legal right/patent granted over a biological invention (which may or may …

National legislation requiring consent and benefit-sharing, plus documentation of indigenous knowledge, are the main safeguards against biopiracy.

Biopiracy refers to the unauthorised use of a country's/community's bio-resources (plants, microbes, genetic material) or their associated traditional knowledge by individuals or organisations (often from another country), without proper permission or fair compensation, frequently followed by patenting the derived product elsewhere. It can be prevented in several ways: (i) enacting and strictly enforcing national biodiversity legislation — e.g., India's Biological Diversity Act, 2002 — which mandates that any access to India's biological resources or associated traditional knowledge for research or commercial use requires prior approval and a benefit-sharing agreement with the Indian government/community concerned; (ii) systematically documenting indigenous biological resources and traditional knowledge (e.g., through People's Biodiversity Registers) so that prior art can be demonstrated to …

Biopiracy refers to the unauthorised, uncompensated commercial exploitation of a region's biological resources or the traditional knowledge of its indigenous people.

Many multinational companies and organisations, drawn by developing countries' rich biodiversity and traditional knowledge about the use of many biological resources, obtain patents on such bioresources or traditional knowledge (e.g. medicinal plants) without adequate authorisation from, and compensation to, the concerned country and its indigenous people/communities. This unauthorised exploitation of biological resources and traditional knowledge, and the lack of compensation for their use, is called biopiracy. Developing nations ri …

Turmeric's wound-healing use, patented in the US, was cancelled after India proved it was long-established traditional knowledge, making it the classic Indian biopiracy case.

This question refers to the well-known turmeric (Curcuma longa) biopiracy case. Two researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center were granted a US patent for the use of turmeric powder in wound healing. India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) challenged the patent, presenting extensive documentary evidence — including ancient Sanskrit texts and long-standing traditional/folk use — proving that turmeric's wound-healing property was already well-known, traditional knowledge in India for centuries, and therefore not a novel invention eligible for a patent. Following this evidence, the US Patent and Trademark Office cancel …