National food labelling legislation dealing with matters such as health claims nutritional content and safety warnings are governed by a complex of international agreements the most important of which are the the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and on the Application of...

The WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in Article 7 states that the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights 'should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual...

Australia has been regarded as a 'New World' opponent of attempts under the TRIPS Agreement to extend the European system of GIs protection to the wider world. It also joined with the USA in instituting a successful TRIPS dispute against the EU’s GIs procedures. However, the extensive...

This article considers the relationship between patenting and plant variety rights protection, through a detailed analysis of the recent determination by the Extended Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office that methods for breeding broccoli and tomatoes were not patentable. It concludes...

Climate change is imposing significant stresses upon agriculture at a time when more food is required for an increasing world population. Genetic engineering is mooted as a technological response to these difficulties. The modification of the DNA of major crop groups produces plants which are...

This chapter considers the international negotiations concerning the extension of the special protection for the geographical indications for wines and spirits provided in the WTO TRIPS Agreement to agricultural and handicraft products

This chapter describes the activities of the European Union in providing technical assistance to Pacific Island countries in relation to traditional knowledge (TK), and the implications for Australian and New Zealand development cooperation activities in what was hitherto regarded as their...

This article examines the negotiation of the intellectual property (IP) chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) which was made public by Wikileaks in November 2013. It suggests that the covert negotiation of the TPPA was anticipated by the confidential negotiation of the...

The Supreme Court of Western Australia recently had to adjudicate a claim for economic loss which an organic farmer in Western Australia claimed had been lost because of the harvesting practices of a neighbouring GM farmer. This is the first reported case of GM damages litigation between...

The legal protection of intellectual property (IP) has allowed private persons and enterprises to assert exclusive rights in relation to certain agricultural innovations. Whether through the protection of breeding innovations under plant variety rights protection laws or through the patenting of...