Two types of legal regime have emerged to regulate the allocative aspects of the trade in biogenetic resources and products derived from them.  These are access and benefit sharing laws and intellectual property rights IPRs).  This paper describes both, but IPRs are emphasized because: (1) the acquisition by firms of patent and plant variety right portfolios appears to influence the unequal allocations of benefits obtained from industrial use of biogenetic resources; (2) the number of countries allowing strong IPR protection for life-science products and technologies is increasing rapidly.  The effect may be to reinforce this asymmetry of benefit allocations; (3) patents and plant breeders' rights have been accused of encouraging biodiversity-erosive breeding and cultivation practices; and (4) just as inappropriate IPRs may harm the interests of developing countries, well-designed IPR systems could conceivably be highly beneficial, helping such countries to add value to their biogenetic wealth.  Unfourtunately, the global IPR system has become increasingly inflexible in recent years, reducing such opportunities for developing countries.