Disclosure of Origin in European Biotechnology Patent Law: A Social Network Analysis Perspective.

This article examines the requirement of disclosure of origin in European biotechnology patent law through a social network analysis (SNA) of 30 prominent biopiracy cases from South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. It finds that, on average, there are approximately 2.5 intermediaries between indigenous and local communities (ILCs)—the primary sources of genetic resources (GRs) and associated traditional knowledge (TK)—and the nodes accused of biopiracy (NABs), such as patent applicants or commercial users. The increasing number of intermediaries over time complicates patent applicants' ability to accurately disclose primary sources, as intermediaries often transform biological materials and associated knowledge, weakening direct ties to original providers. The study suggests that current European patent disclosure requirements, which emphasize primary source information, may be impractical and recommends reconsidering the focus toward secondary sources like ex situ institutions and commercial suppliers, while acknowledging the challenges this poses for enforcing prior informed consent and benefit-sharing mechanisms.