A/70/279 be carefully crafted to ensure that they meet their purpose, especially in areas of essential technologies where the patent system does not work well. 58. A worrisome trend is the expanding roles of patent-seeking in scientific research at universities and public research institutions. The result is that the fruits of publicly funded scientific research are often transferred to exclusive private ownership. Of equal concern is the change in the culture surrounding university research, away from an activity conducted for the public good and human advancement towards an activity valued only for its potential commercial application. 59. Another concern is that rights-holders may exclude competitors from producing an improved dependent technology. A third -party who finds a way to further improve a patented technology may patent her or his improvement, yet be unable to sell the improved technology without a license from the patentee of the underlying technology. Ideally, both parties would conclude an agreement and practice cross-licensing. Should this not occur, however, valuable technological improvements may fail to become commercially available. Many countries allow for compulsory licensing to overcome such situations, thereby promoting the public’s right to benefit from technological improvements and the improver’s right to benefit from their invention. 60. One dimension of this issue relates to the situation of small farmers across the world, and the recognition of their right to continue improving their seeds. The TRIPS Agreement requires States to protect plant varieties “either by patents or by an effective sui generis system or by any combination thereof”. Some States believe that this is restricted to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties (UPOV) system, which has been criticized for its negative imp act on small farmers, in particular in developing countries. 22 In fact, there is a wide range of possible other effective sui generis systems that may be adapted to national circumstances. 23 V. Asserting the right to science and culture in patent policy: the way forward 61. Article 7 of the TRIPS Agreement provides that “the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations”. The word “should” indicates that such effects do not automatically result from intellectual property protection, and that countries should frame their legislation with the aim of reaching these effects. 62. As underlined by commentators, “it is often possible to expand the protection of private rights holders and increase their investment returns, but this expansion of __________________ 22 23 16/26 See Thomas Braunschweig and others, “Owing seeds, accessing food: a human rights impact assessment of UPOV 1991 based on case studies in Kenya, Peru and the Philippines” (Zurich, Berne Declaration, 2014). See Hans Morten Haugen, ”Inappropriate processes and unbalanced outcomes: plant variety protection in Africa goes beyond UPOV 1991 requirements”, Journal of World Intellectual Property (forthcoming). 15-12543