مدیریت مالکیت معنوی و آگاهی در سطح دانشگاه در عصر بیوتکنولوژی: یک چشم انداز تایلندی

In the particular context of a developing country, the problems arising from a lack of awareness of intellectual property in universities in Thailand is described. These problems include a poor negotiating position in formulating licensing and like agreements, especially in relation to such agreements with developed countries. The situation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical areas is highlighted, for example the formulation of pharmaceutical products with active ingredients related to those present in traditional medicines. Improvements at the universities proposed to address these issues embrace setting up intellectual property departments within each university and substantially increasing the level of intellectual property awareness in both under- and postgraduate courses.

Especially in developing countries such as Thailand, marketing technology and intellectual property protection (IPP) management need to be developed in parallel in the private sector and in non-profit research institutions such as universities to enable these organizations to maintain greater control of their intellectual properties. Biotechnology plays a key role in applications across many fields such as mining, agriculture, bioelectronics, and nanotechnology. By valuing and structuring their deals well, biotechnology companies and research institutions can earn higher returns and strengthen their partnerships with other companies [3]. Thailand, like many other tropical countries, has an inherent abundance of natural resources, such as medicinal plants and useful microorganisms. With the boom in biotechnology, a great deal of effort is focused on the discovery of potent chemical substances and fruitful protein encoding genes (i.e., new drugs and pharmaceutical products) from biological resources indigenous to developing nations such as Thailand [1] and [2]. As such, the rapidly expanding biotechnology industry has generated intense commercial interest in the collection of biological material [1] and [2]. The speed at which research and collaborative projects are taking place in Thailand and other Asian countries has led to a gap between researchers' and academics' knowledge of intellectual property rights issues, and their capacity for involvement with foreign companies and institutions. Learning effective deal-making and intellectual property management can enable developing researchers to better develop skills to deal with these issues. Like other countries, Thailand does not want to lose its resources for little or no return, and certainly does not want to be a victim of biopiracy. Therefore, a thoughtful and methodical approach for intellectual property protection, management and negotiating deals is timelier than ever.

In this paper, two key ways to improve intellectual property rights protection at universities in Thailand and other developing nations have been described. These methods, developing and implementing IPP-related courses at the undergraduate and graduate level, and establishing an IP department are two viable ways IPP issues can be addressed. Given the enormous amount of capital involved in biotechnological research, and the ongoing need for the biotech research community to have access to novel microorganisms, the onus is on individual countries to develop programs to educate and safeguard their inherent natural resources. In Thailand, university researchers are at the forefront of this, and much increased awareness of IP issues is necessary. Opening an intellectual property department will not ameliorate all the problems, but it will enable and encourage faculty and researchers to take measures to protect their discoveries. Likewise, offering courses in intellectual property rights and related issues to students will not have an immediate effect. However, the next generation of Thai scientists will be much better equipped to deal with these issues as they arise. In this case, the cliche `knowledge is power' is particularly fitting. Knowledge will not bring power to these new scientists, but they will be much more capable of recognizing where IPP issues are, and taking action as it is necessary. Giving Thailand greater control over its resources and discoveries is critical. To this end, the joint science-and-business perspective has the potential to make a profound difference to many universities and Thailand as a whole.