Monsanto and Intellectual Property in South America

200 Pages·2014·0.993 MB·English

by  Felipe Amin Filomeno (auth.)

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MONSANTOANDINTELLECTUALPROPERTYINSOUTHAMERICA
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Monsanto and Intellectual
Property in South America
Felipe Amin Filomeno
AssistantProfessor,UniversidadeFederalDeSantaCatarina,Brazil
©FelipeAminFilomeno2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-35668-0
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To the memory of,
and in honor of the legacy of,
Giovanni Arrighi
Contents
ListofTablesandFigures ix
Acknowledgments x
ListofAbbreviationsandAcronyms xi
1 Introduction 1
Threeperspectivesonintellectualproperty 4
ThepuzzleofintellectualpropertyinSouthAmerican
soybeanagriculture 8
Thebookargument 15
Researchdesign 24
Outline 25
2 Argentina:TheOldDevelopmentalModel 26
Neoliberalism,intellectualpropertyandMonsanto
inArgentinesoybeanagriculture(1990s) 28
Theradicalizationofconflictsoverintellectualproperty
onseedsinthedemiseofneoliberalism(2000s) 32
Conclusion 64
3 Brazil:TheNeodevelopmentalModel 68
NeoliberalismandintellectualpropertyinBrazilian
soybeanagriculture(1990s) 69
ReformstotheBrazilianintellectualpropertyregime
onseedsandthecontentiousoperationofMonsanto’s
systemofroyaltycollection(2000s) 76
Conclusion 105
4 Paraguay:TheDependentModel 109
NeoliberalismandintellectualpropertyinParaguayan
soybeanagriculture(1990s) 111
ReformstotheParaguayanintellectualpropertyregime
onseedsandthecontentiousoperationofMonsanto’s
systemofroyaltycollection(2000s) 113
Conclusion 132
vii
viii Contents
5 Conclusion:SeedsoftheFuture 135
Theory 135
Generalizations 145
Futurescenarios 148
Normativeissuesandpolicyimplications 151
Appendix–Listofinterviews 157
Argentina(BuenosAires,August2010) 157
Brazil(severallocations,2011–2012) 157
Paraguay(Asunción,March2011) 157
Notes 158
References 162
Index 184
Tables and Figures
Tables
3.1 AveragegovernmentexpenditureinagriculturalR&D
inArgentinaandBrazil(1981–2006,millionUS$
of2005) 80
Figures
3.1 Sharesinworldsoybeanproduction–Argentina,Brazil
andParaguay(1975–2010,percentagesconvertedto
normallogarithm) 92
ix
Acknowledgments
The research that resulted in this book started when I became
‘research apprentice’ for Giovanni Arrighi at Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity in 2007. Giovanni incited me to study the relations between
labor, land and development in Brazil and I chose soybean agricul-
tureasacaseforanalysis.Soybeanswereamongthetopagricultural
productsofBrazil;theirproductioncontributedtoeconomicgrowth
andexportrevenuesbutwasalsochargedwithenvironmentaldegra-
dation,displacementofruralpopulationsandendangermentoffood
security.WhilestudyingBraziliansoybeanagricultureinthecontext
ofSouthAmerica,Ibecamemoreinterestedintherelationsbetween
intellectualpropertyanddevelopmentthaninlaborandlandissues.
From the beginning of my research to the publication of this
book,IbenefitedfromcommentsandsuggestionsfromBeverlySilver,
Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz, Rina Agarwala, Margaret Keck, René
Marlin-Bennett, Kenneth Shadlen, Marisa von Bülow, Timothy M.
Shaw and participants of the graduate seminars in Cross-National
Sociology and International Development at Johns Hopkins. The
organizations I visited for data collection in Argentina, Brazil and
Paraguay also provided valuable input for my research. They are all
listedintheAppendixandIamthankfultotheirrepresentativeswho
received me for interviews. I am also grateful to the Latin American
Studies Association, especially its Brazil Section, which gave me the
BestPhDDissertationAwardin2013fortheresearchthatresultedin
this book. Finally, my research would not have been possible with-
outthefinancialsupportfromtheFulbrightCommission,theCAPES
Foundation of the Brazilian Ministry of Education and the Johns
HopkinsUniversity’sInstituteofGlobalStudiesandProgramofLatin
AmericanStudies.
x