Disclosure-shy industry

Disclosure is now at the heart of the misappropriation debate—and the centrepiece of vexed international efforts to hammer out a treaty to protect the last major resources of developing nations. Talks in the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) last month on protecting genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions were snarled in serious disagreements as developing countries sought legal measures to safeguard their resources from being plundered.