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Those who live in economically developed countries in Asia may remember seeing TV commercials from some pharmaceutical companies showing researchers visiting remote areas of some less developed counties, collecting new medicines or plants which local people have long used to cure illnesses. The narrator fades in saying something like, "Our researchers are traveling to far countries to discover new medicines." At that time, few people had any concern about these pharmaceutical TV commercials, because they did not know that these discoveries would be claimed as the company's own property to the neglect of the indigenous people's property rights. Problems have developed in the area of patents for some people, especially the local people of less developing countries. Patents rights, just as other intelligent property rights, are designed to encourage human creativity by protecting the process and products discovered. It gives exclusive "ownership" of the subject matter to the patent holder. The application process to get patents has become too complicated for most people. It requires a considerable understanding of both legal and technical language.
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SECTION 5: PATENTS
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Medicines which have existed in Australia and India among the local people for a long time, are being patented by big multi-national corporations, and now these indigenous people need to pay these patent-holding companies to be able to use traditional medicines they had used freely for centuries. According to Terri Janke (1), the indigenous traditional medicinal remedies fall under the category of the "prior art base"--they have existed as a natural part of life for too long: they aren't "inventions" as such. Because of this, indigenous people cannot claim them as developments to be patented. For instance, Smokebush in Australia was long used by indigenous people for its healing properties, but they were not aware it was a potential cure for AIDS. That use was the basis for a patent application by Amrad, a pharmaceutical company, which was then granted an exclusive worldwide license to develop the medicine. Although royalties may be coming into the Western Australian government, the indigenous people are upset that they have not received any acknowledgment, financial or otherwise, for their role in having first discovered the healing properties of Smokebush. (http://www.icip.lawnet.com.au/)
In genetic or biotechnological fields, though the cures or methods might exist among indigenous people, the scientific knowledge required to apply for such patents is too technical for any except pharmaceutical companies to attempt.
Many NGOs and church-related organizations are critical about the World Trade Organization, WTO, and its recently formed treaty, the Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPs. TRIPs is now being used as a tool to pressure developing countries to allow open access to their genetic materials. The treaty's Article 27, allows for a great number of patents including in the area of biotechnology while potentially excluding patent rights from indigenous peoples.
TRIPs is being criticized by many NGOs claiming the treaty actually hampers the progress of developing countries in becoming advanced countries, since it does not permit the production of similar products. Without being able to master modern technology, without being able to pay the expensive patent fees to participate in that technology, the less developed countries will remain behind forever. The treaty, in effect, holds them in their place. Economic globalization makes the weak weaker, only granting benefits to advanced countries and multi-national companies. Such a treaty functions only to preserve this global economical imbalance, under the flag of deregulation and privatization. Still few organizations voiced these problems, because there are such huge mechanisms involved in the trade system and property rights, and the new technology of human genetics and information and communication technologies. 
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