Genetic resources and benefit-sharing
22 cases in 21 countries, 1970–2025. Most cases: South Africa (3), Switzerland (2), Peru (2), Morocco (2), Israel (2).
WHO Pandemic Agreement and the PABS annex
A Pandemic Agreement was reported adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2025, but its pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) annex was not adopted in May 2026, and the agreement had not opened for signature as of October 2026.
Cali Fund (digital sequence information)
A UN fund created in 2024 asks companies that use digital genetic sequence data to contribute a share of profit or revenue, with about US$1 billion a year expected. By August 2026 it had received US$6,000 from two companies.
Basecamp Research benefit-sharing deals with Malawi and Cameroon; amounts undisclosed
Basecamp Research agreed benefit-sharing terms with Malawi and Cameroon covering genetic data used to train AI models. The amounts paid are not on record.
Rooibos benefit-sharing agreement (South Africa)
A rooibos industry benefit-sharing arrangement in South Africa paid 12.2 million rand to two San and Khoi councils in its first year, set at 1.5% of the farm-gate price. Cultural Survival reported that about 2% of rooibos farmers come from Indigenous communities.
Taimyr and Kola indigenous peoples and Nornickel: letter, development programme and compensation payments, 2020–2025
After the May 2020 Norilsk diesel spill, indigenous organisations called on Tesla to refuse Nornickel products, and Nornickel announced a development programme, compensation payments and a coordination council. The company reports the programme as completed in 2024; NGOs report that support was made conditional and that Ust-Avam has not received the compensation it requested.
Peru says it blocked 180 biopiracy cases, but records no benefit payments
Peru says it prevented 180 biopiracy cases in patent systems over 20 years. The cited sources record no monetary benefit reaching producers of maca or sangre de grado, and no commercial access contract until 2020.
Mary Kay's Kakadu plum patent application rejected in Australia over prior use
Mary Kay sought a patent on the Kakadu plum, and the application was rejected in Australia in 2020 on evidence of prior use. The cited sources record no benefit-sharing payment linked to it.
MoroccanOil and argan (Israel/Morocco)
An Israeli cosmetics brand named for Morocco reported revenue of USD 60.6 million in 2024. No benefit-sharing with the Amazigh women's cooperatives that work with argan in Morocco is on record.
Intermediaries take over Morocco's argan oil trade as drought cuts output
A 2023 Human Ecology study reported that intermediaries have taken over Morocco's argan oil trade, and drought has cut argan output by 51%. For nature, the stake is the argan trees and the cooperatives that depend on them.
Marine genetic sequence patents (BASF) and BBNJ
A 2018 analysis reported by AAAS counted 12,998 patented genetic sequences from 862 marine species, 47% of them held by one company, BASF. The High Seas Treaty (BBNJ) was reported to have entered into force in January 2026.
European Patent Office finds French institute's Quassia amara patent valid
The European Patent Office found valid a patent held by the French research body IRD on the plant Quassia amara. A 2016 French law left commonly known traditional knowledge outside benefit-sharing, the source reports.
Red sandalwood funds made up most of India's benefit-sharing payouts
India reports 268 crore rupees of benefits from access and benefit-sharing approvals since 2017, and 101 of the 127 crore rupees distributed came from red sandalwood funds. The cited sources do not report the effect on red sandalwood forests.
Brazil: benefit-sharing fund (FNRB) and IBAMA biopiracy fines
Brazil's benefit-sharing fund (FNRB) collected R$7.44 million from 65 companies in 2020–2024 and, by May 2024, had made no monetary transfer to communities. IBAMA, the environment agency, had issued R$221.6 million in biopiracy fines by 2014.
Shiseido withdrew a jamu patent after NGO pressure; kratom patents were contested
Shiseido withdrew a patent on compounds from jamu, an Indonesian herbal medicine, after pressure from an Indonesian NGO. Patents on Thailand's kratom plant, held by Japanese universities, were challenged by BioThai.
Nestlé black cumin patent application draws protest of over 300,000 signatures
Nestlé applied for a patent on black cumin for food allergy use, and a protest with over 300,000 signatures followed. The cited sources do not state the outcome of the application.
Indonesia's H5N1 sample withholding and the WHO PIP Framework
In 2007 Indonesia stopped sending H5N1 virus samples to the WHO over how its strain was used in a vaccine. The dispute preceded the WHO's Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework, and the pathogen access and benefit-sharing annex to the Pandemic Agreement remained unadopted in 2026.
EPO revokes Schwabe's Pelargonium patent after Alice community opposition
The European Patent Office revoked a German company's patent on the Pelargonium plant in January 2010, after an opposition filed on behalf of the Alice community in South Africa. The cited sources do not say whether the community received any benefit.
Turmeric, neem, basmati, Nap Hal patent revocations
Evidence from India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library is reported to have stopped 265 patent applications by March 2022, and the Nap Hal wheat patent was revoked at the European Patent Office in 2004. Several other revocations are unconfirmed. The cited sources record no payment returning to the source communities.
FAO Plant Treaty multilateral system and benefit-sharing fund
Under the Plant Treaty's Multilateral System, 116,763 standard material transfer agreements had been signed by 1 January 2025, while a Third World Network account says only 5 or 6 of more than 25,000 recipients made monetary contributions. Negotiators in Lima in 2025 did not agree on expanding the system.
US Supreme Court ruled that replanting patented seed infringes the patent
In 2013 the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Bowman v. Monsanto that planting and multiplying patented seed infringes the patent. The Center for Food Safety, an advocacy group, counts 142 suits against 410 farmers, with more than 23 million dollars won by Monsanto.
Endorois and Lake Bogoria enzyme extraction (Kenya)
Lake Bogoria in Kenya became a game reserve in the 1970s and the Endorois were evicted. In 2010 the African Commission found a rights violation and asked that revenue be shared; in 2024 the Endorois said they learned from the press that enzymes were being extracted from the lake.
Brazilian court halts Bayer licence fees on Intacta soy after patent expiry
A Mato Grosso court halted Bayer's collection of licence fees on Intacta soy under expired patents, and an appeals court upheld the ruling. The case is pending before a higher court, with about 10 billion reais at stake.