For nearly two decades, the World Intellectual Property Organization’s expert committee, known as the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), has been working to negotiate text-based legal instrument(s) for effective protection of the subject matters of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, and their intersection with the intellectual property (IP) system. So far, the IGC experience reflects the intensity of the international process, geopolitical undercurrents and the power dynamics that characterize that process, especially as it relates to the subject of IP.
