# Biopiracy

> Biopiracy is taking genetic resources or traditional knowledge from a country or community without consent or benefit-sharing, especially to patent or profit from them.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/biopiracy.html
- Also written: bio-piracy, biopirates, genetic resource misappropriation, biological piracy
- Glossary category: Legal and regulatory
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

Biopiracy is the appropriation of [genetic resources](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/germplasm.md) or traditional knowledge without the providers' [prior informed consent](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/prior-informed-consent.md) or fair [benefit-sharing](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/benefit-sharing.md), often followed by patenting or commercial use that excludes the people who developed or kept the resource.

## In practice

The term is used both legally, where a country's access rules or the [Nagoya Protocol](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/nagoya-protocol.md) were breached, and ethically, for practices that are technically legal but unfair. In cannabis, critics point to [landrace](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/landrace.md) seed collected without permission, renamed and sold with no credit to its origin, and to patents built on traits that traditional growers had selected for generations.

GenetixBay's view is firm: responsible [landrace hunting](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/landrace-hunter.md) and biopiracy are different things. Consent, documentation, credit and compensation make the difference. See [landrace hunting and biopiracy](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/genetics-history/landrace-hunting-and-biopiracy.md).

Rules differ by country, state, province and city, and change often. This is a general definition, not legal advice: check local rules.

## Don't confuse with

- **Bioprospecting**: searching for useful genetic resources; it becomes biopiracy when consent and benefit-sharing are missing.
- **Landrace hunting**: can be done responsibly.

## Related terms

[Benefit-sharing](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/benefit-sharing.md), [Prior informed consent](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/prior-informed-consent.md), [Nagoya Protocol](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/nagoya-protocol.md), [Landrace hunter](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/landrace-hunter.md), [Utility patent](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/utility-patent.md)

## Read more

- [Landrace hunting or biopiracy? Benefit-sharing, consent and cannabis](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/genetics-history/landrace-hunting-and-biopiracy.md)

## Sources

1. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. 2011. Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization. https://www.cbd.int/abs/