biopiracy

noun

bio·pi·ra·cy ¦bī-(ˌ)ō-¦pī-rə-sē

: the unethical or unlawful appropriation or commercial exploitation of biological materials (such as medicinal plant extracts) that are native to a particular country or territory without providing fair financial compensation to the people or government of that country or territory

The 60-year-old scientist was dwelling in semi-isolation, having … lost his job at a Brazilian research institute and been charged with a raft of offenses, including misusing government property and violating Brazil's biopiracy laws.—

Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian, February 2008

Turmeric is a poster child for one of the most noted intellectual-property cases on biopiracy, which pitted an Indian government-supported research organization against a 1995 patent issued to the University of Mississippi for the use of the spice for wound healing.—

Gary Stix, Scientific American, February 2007

biopirate

¦bī-(ˌ)ō-¦pī-rət

noun

plural biopirates

Indigenous people are at the mercy of biopirates who steal their traditional knowledge of medicinal plants. —

Stephen Leahy, New Scientist, 28 Feb. 2004