Rights over genetic resources and traditional knowledge (TK) are founded in the law and the protracted discussion over access and benefit sharing (ABS) is largely a question of the law. A primary task of the Museum of Bioprospecting, Intellectual Property, and the Public Domain (MUBIO) is to clarify a few basic facts of the:

1. legal commitment that States have “sovereign rights” over the genetic resources within their borders

2. complementary commitment to respect, preserve, recognize traditional knowledge (TK) and when consent is given, promote its wider application, and “encourage the equitable sharing” benefits derived from such knowledge

3. international recognition of the primary governance principles of due process of law, equal protection, and equity, and

4. trajectory of the Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPs) and bilateral free-trade accords.

Once such knowledge is acquired (Bloom's Level One), the visitor can begin to participate in the international conversation about the evolving Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

You mean to tell me, that after all that hullabaloo about climbing Bloom's pyramid, you're kicking me down from Level Six to Level One? (The interloper from the previous chapters seems especially irascible, irritated for having agreed to listen to more than one legal argument, after a lifetime of telling the joke about the blood in the water, the sharks, and professional courtesy.)

The manner in which the law deals with bioprospecting is a “lawyers derby” of academic publications and doctoral dissertations.