已開發國家針對植物遺傳資源之利益分享機制及植物品種保護權之實證研究

An Empirical Study of Access and Benefit-Sharing Regimes and Plant Variety Protection Regarding Plant Genetic Resources Among Developed Countries

Plant genetic resources (PGRs) and traditional knowledge regarding the use of PGRs have been the subjects of international agreements that have attempted to develop international guidelines for collecting PGRs and sharing their benefits. Developed countries prefer intellectual property regimes that favor their interests and deem the collection of PGR samples from developing countries “bioprospecting.” However, developed countries’ perspectives have been examined more in the law literature than by empirical method. The literature discussions make it hard to understand objectively whether or not these perspectives are right and to determine the interactions between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and access and benefit-sharing (ABS) regimes. An empirical research study is a significant way to fill such gap, so this article uses regression analysis to evaluate interactions between the development of IPRs and the adoption of access and benefit-sharing regimes among developed countries. The regression analysis in this article shows that developed countries that experience increased numbers of plant variety protection (PVP) application filings tend to adopt ABS regimes. As a result, IPRs develop in harmony with the adoption of ABS regimes, and IPRs and ABS regimes have a cause-and-effect relationship.

植物遺傳資源及與使用植物遺傳資源有關的傳統知識已經成為國際條約中之重要議題，其主要是關於採集植物遺傳資源與分享其中之利益的國際規範。已開發國家偏好智慧財產權去保障其在開發中國家進行植物探勘之利益。已開發國家之觀點雖多於法律文獻中檢驗卻少有實證研究，但文獻的討論卻難以客觀地分析如此的觀點是否正確與觀察智慧財產權與接近及利益分享機制間的互動。而實證研究正好可以彌補這樣的不足，所以本文是利用迴歸分析來檢驗已開發國家間有關智慧財產權與接近及利益分享機制間的互動。而迴歸分析之結果指出當已開發國家有越多植物品種保護權之申請，這些國家更會傾向採取接近及利益分享機制。因此，智慧財產權之發展與接近及利益分享機制之採取是相輔相成的，而且兩者之間有因果關係。