WIPO Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge Treaty: Unravelling the United States’ Isolationist Intellectual Property Diplomacy
Intellectual Property Forum
(March 2026)
By Chidi Oguamanam
There are many perspectives on the two-and-a-half-decade journey leading to the WIPO Treaty on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GR-ATK Treaty) adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2024. The Treaty is both a symbolic and milestone instrument. It is the first document of treaty status to interface Traditional Knowledge with the global intellectual property (IP) system, especially the patent regime.
In this paper, I explore a rarely acknowledged perspective: the strategic and consistent bridge- and confidence-building role of Australia and New Zealand that proved critical to the making of the Treaty. As members of Group B (industrialized countries), Australia and New Zealand have strong national political, cultural, and economic interests in Traditional Knowledge. That interest placed them in a nuanced tension of sorts with the United States, a staunch member of the Group and a historical ally.
Find out how the duo deployed their deft diplomatic skills, and one of the inadvertent consequences of that effort: the further unmasking of the United States’ isolationist diplomacy around intellectual property and Traditional Knowledge.
This article is published on Intellectual Property Forum, Issue 143, March 2026.