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Law of Intellectual Property Rights, Human Rights and Environment

LL.M. · 17 topics in 5 units

Unit I 3 topics

  1. Evolution of Human RightsMeaning and features of human rights, their growth from Magna Carta and the eighteenth-century declarations to the UN Charter and the International Bill of Rights, the three generations, the main theories and their critics (Bentham, Marx, Baxi), and the Indian story from the Constitution of India Bill 1895 to the Constituent Assembly, with the first links to intellectual property.7 min
  2. History of Environmental Law and IP Law, National and InternationalHow international environmental law grew from Trail Smelter to Stockholm, Rio and Paris; India's environmental laws from colonial forest and nuisance laws to the EPA and NGT; IP law from Venice 1474 and the Statute of Monopolies to Paris, Berne, TRIPS and India's 1970 Patents Act; and the 1990s moment when the three bodies of law met.7 min
  3. Environment and Human RightsThree ways of linking environment and human rights (greening existing rights, procedural rights, a free-standing right), the regional and UN developments from Stockholm Principle 1 to UNGA Resolution 76/300 and the 2025 ICJ climate opinion, the Indian Article 21 case law from Dehradun quarries to M.K. Ranjitsinh, and the anthropocentric-ecocentric debate.6 min

Unit II 4 topics

  1. The UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human RightsThe human rights provisions of the UN Charter (Preamble, Articles 1(3), 13, 55, 56, 62 and 68) and their legal force; the UDHR of 1948, its drafting, legal status and use by Indian courts; and the IP-relevant articles 17, 19, 25, 26 and 27, with the drafting history and internal tension of Article 27.6 min
  2. ICESCR Article 15, General Comment 17 and the Right to DevelopmentThe ICESCR (1966, in force 1976) with Articles 2(1), 11, 12 and 15; the Sub-Commission's Resolution 2000/7 and the CESCR's 2001 statement; General Comment 17 (2005) separating the author's human right from IP rights; General Comment 25 (2020) on the right to science; conflict and coexistence theories; and the Declaration on the Right to Development (1986).7 min
  3. The Constitution of India and Human RightsThe Preamble, Part III and Part IV as India's bill of rights; the widening of Article 21 from Maneka Gandhi to Puttaswamy; the use of international law (Article 51, Article 253, Vishaka, Jolly George); constitutional remedies and compensation; and where IP fits: Article 300A, free speech, and the right to health in Novartis.6 min
  4. The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993Why the Act was passed and the Paris Principles; the definition of human rights in section 2(1)(d); the composition, appointment and functions of the NHRC and State Commissions after the 2019 amendment; powers of inquiry, recommendations and the armed forces limit; Human Rights Courts; the one-year bar in N.C. Dhoundial; and a critical assessment, including the Commission's reach over health and environmental rights.6 min

Unit III 3 topics

  1. Stockholm, Brundtland, Rio, Johannesburg and the SDGsThe Stockholm Declaration of 1972 and its Principles 1 and 21; the Brundtland Commission's Our Common Future (1987) and the definition of sustainable development; the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21, UNFCCC and CBD of 1992, with the principles of common but differentiated responsibility, precaution and polluter pays; the Johannesburg Declaration of 2002; and the 2030 Agenda's SDGs, with the targets that mention TRIPS, genetic resources and technology transfer.6 min
  2. Constitutional Provisions for Environmental ProtectionArticles 21, 48A, 51A(g), 47, 39(b), 14 and 19(1)(g), the Seventh Schedule entries and Article 253, local bodies under the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules, and the principles the Supreme Court built on them: sustainable development, precaution, polluter pays, public trust, absolute liability, intergenerational equity and continuing mandamus, with the NGT and a critique of judicial governance.5 min
  3. The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986The Forest (Conservation) Act 1980: prior central approval under section 2, compensatory afforestation and NPV, Godavarman's dictionary meaning of forest, and the 2023 amendment that renamed it the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam; and the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 as umbrella law: definitions, section 3 and 5 powers, standards, EIA, the GMO Rules and GEAC, citizen complaints, and the Jan Vishwas decriminalisation.7 min

Unit IV 3 topics

  1. The Patents Act, 1970: Human Rights and EnvironmentHow the Patents Act protects the rights to health, food, a clean environment and communities' knowledge: the exclusions in section 3 (b), (d), (h), (i), (j) and (p), source disclosure, oppositions, section 83's principles, compulsory licences, government use and section 92A, Bolar and parallel imports, working statements, and the cases from Novartis and Bayer v Natco to Monsanto, with comparative human rights cases from Kenya and South Africa.7 min
  2. The PPV&FR Act, 2001: Farmers' Rights, Food and EnvironmentThe PPV&FR Act read as a human rights and environmental statute: the right to food under ICESCR Article 11 and General Comment 12, farmers' rights under section 39 and the ITPGRFA, the community and benefit-sharing provisions, the environmental exclusions and GURTs in section 29, compulsory licences for seed supply, the PepsiCo potato case, and UNDROP's right to seeds.6 min
  3. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002: Communities, Knowledge and IPRThe Biological Diversity Act read as the meeting point of environmental law, IP and the rights of communities: sovereignty versus community ownership, the NBA, State Boards and BMCs, the IP approval rule in section 6 and the NBA's power to oppose foreign patents, benefit sharing, People's Biodiversity Registers, the 2023 amendment, Divya Pharmacy, the Kani-Jeevani model, the Bt brinjal complaint, and UNDRIP and ILO standards.6 min

Unit V 4 topics

  1. Balancing Provisions in TRIPS and the Doha Declaration, 2001The provisions of TRIPS that balance right holders' interests with public health, nutrition, environment and development: the preamble, Articles 7 and 8, exhaustion, the exceptions in Articles 13, 17, 26 and 30, Article 27(2) and (3), compulsory licences under Article 31 and 31bis, Articles 39, 40 and 66.2; the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health with its legal status; and the COVID-19 Ministerial Decision of 2022.7 min
  2. TRIPS and the CBD: Balancing Provisions and Green Technology TransferThe balancing provisions of the CBD (Articles 1, 3, 8(j), 15, 16, 19 and 22), the conflict with TRIPS Article 27(3)(b), the Doha paragraph 19 mandate and the disclosure-of-origin proposals, the 2024 WIPO Treaty on genetic resources and traditional knowledge; and the transfer of environmentally sound technology under Agenda 21, the UNFCCC, Kyoto and the Paris Agreement, the Montreal Protocol model, WIPO GREEN and the debate on whether patents block green technology.7 min
  3. UN Institutions: UNO, ECOSOC, OHCHR, FAO, UNESCO and UNICEFThe UN institutions named in the syllabus and what each has done on human rights and IP: the General Assembly and Human Rights Council, ECOSOC and its commissions and the CESCR, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteurs, FAO's farmers' rights and the ITPGRFA, UNESCO's copyright, heritage, bioethics and open science instruments, and UNICEF's role in children's health and vaccine access, with WHO and UNEP for context.6 min
  4. The WTO, WIPO and the TRIPS CouncilThe WTO's structure, decision-making and dispute settlement, with the TRIPS disputes that matter for health and development and the Appellate Body impasse; the TRIPS Council's functions under Article 68 and its work on Article 27(3)(b), the CBD, public health and the COVID-19 waiver; and WIPO's mandate, organs, committees, Development Agenda and the Marrakesh and 2024 genetic resources treaties, with a comparison of the two forums.6 min