View article

During the 1990s, the market for biotechnology in the agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors became a major international economic force1. One of the key factors influencing this market success is the investment in research and development (R&D) of new seed varieties2. In the last decades investment in R&D switched from state-sponsored to private funding (Fernandez-Cornejo, 2004). At the same time, the market moved toward a strong concentration in a few multinational firms, which now control most of the biotechnological R&D around the world (RAFI, 1999 and Sirinivasan, 2003). These changes are happening at the same time that a revolution is advancing biotechnology within agricultural and pharmaceutical industries (Fernandez-Cornejo, 2004). In this new environment, with extensive private participation in the international market, the protection of intellectual property rights and its role in shaping the biotechnology market has been highly debated (Kesan, 2000; Kesan and Janis, 2001; Swanson and Goschl, 2000; Janis and Kesan, 2002; Goldsmith, Ramos and Steiger, 2002; Goldsmith, 2001; Lesser, 1998; Moschini, 2001; Moschini and Lapan, 1997; Rohrbach, Minde and Howard, 2003; Alston and Venner, 2002; Frisvold, Sullivan and Raneses, 2003; Graff, Rausser and Small, 2003 and Diez, 2002). Governments, international organizations, the private sector (firms and farmers), scholars and scientists are discussing how changes affect the market for seeds and how property rights should be defined and enforced to promote social welfare (Fernandez-Cornejo, 2004). To promote and protect their investments in companies abroad …