Papers

Papers

  • Joined: March 4, 2014
  • Articles: 346

Conflicting Interests, Competing Perspectives and Policy Incoherence: Covid-19 Highlights the Significance of the UN High-Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines

[Muhammad Abbas] ... The UN High-Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines is a great help in identifying and articulating the nature of the public policy problems faced by countries in response to COVID-19. After analysing the Report and its key recommendations, this paper evaluates the diverging responses to the Report which clearly highlight the conflicting interests of stakeholders. This article concludes that WTO Member States need to revive the spirit of the Doha Declaration which was arguably the best multilateral effort to accommodate the conflicting interests.

Implementing User Rights for Research in the Field of Artificial Intelligence: A Call for International Action

[Sean Flynn, Christophe Geiger, João Quintais, Thomas Margoni, Matthew Sag, Lucie Guibault and Michael W. Carroll.] Abstract: Last year, before the onset of a global pandemic highlighted the critical and urgent need for technology-enabled scientific research, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched an inquiry into issues at the intersection of intellectual property (IP) and artificial intelligence (AI). We contributed comments to that inquiry, with a focus on the application of copyright to the use of text and data mining (TDM) technology. This article describes some of the most salient points of our submission and concludes by stressing the need for international leadership on this important topic. WIPO could help fill the current gap on international leadership, including by providing guidance on the diverse mechanisms that countries may use to authorize TDM research and serving as a forum for the adoption of rules permitting cross-border TDM projects.

How to License Article 17? Exploring the Implementation Options for the New EU Rules on Content-Sharing Platforms

[Martin Husovec and João Quintais] Abstract: Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive is a major Internet policy experiment of our decade. The provision fundamentally changes copyright regulation of certain digital platforms. However, the precise nature of art. 17 is far from clear. How does it fit the existing structure of EU copyright law and doctrine? How can the Member States implement it? These are the questions at the heart of this article.

The New Related Right for Press Publishers: What Way Forward?

[Silvia Scalzini] Abstract: Following the entry into force of Directive 2019/790/EU, a new related right has been added to the EU catalogue (Article 15). Indeed, a new right has been introduced in favour of press publishers for the reproduction and making available to the public of press publications in respect of online uses by information society service providers. The main aim of the EU reform is to support the sustainability of the press by creating a level playing field between digital services and press publishers, where the latter may find a way to recoup a return on their investments. This objective is clearly reflected in the construction of the right, which is inherently unbalanced regarding opposing rights and interests, thus risking to (further) fragmenting the consistency of EU copyright and related rights system.

A New Trend in Trade Agreements: Ensuring Access to Cancer Drugs

[Maria Fabiana Jorge] Abstract: ... prices are clearly out of reach for most patients who will need them increasingly more to stay alive. While competition is critical to ensure lower drug prices, we have seen a number of strategies, including through trade agreements, to prevent competition and extend monopolies over these drugs and their very high drug prices. It is no accident that the exclusivity granted to biologic drugs has been one of the most conflictive provisions in recent trade agreements such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Nevertheless a new trend in trade agreements started in 2007 when U.S. Members of Congress pushed back against the interests of powerful economic groups seeking longer monopolies for drugs.

Re-thinking Global and Local Manufacturing of Medical Products After COVID-19

[Germán Velásquez] The unprecedented global health crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic since the first quarter of 2020 has reopened the now-urgent discussion about the role of local pharmaceutical production in addressing the health needs in developing countries. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the interdependencies in the global production of pharmaceuticals—no country is self-sufficient.

Influence of Copyright Exceptions and Limitations on Access to Information in Kenya, Ghana and Uganda Libraries

[Magdaline Wanjiru Mungai, Selikem Sebuava Dorvlo, Asaph Nuwagirya, and Marlene Holmner] Abstract: Copyright exceptions promote access to information by users without breaching copyright. This research paper reviews copyright exceptions in Kenya, Ghana and Uganda and how they influence access to information in libraries. Objectives were to find out the implications of copyright exceptions in Kenya, Ghana and Uganda; advantages and disadvantages of copyright exceptions for libraries; and recommend best practices of copyright exceptions.

United States: An Obsolete Trade Practice Undermines Access to the Most Expensive Drugs at More Affordable Prices

[Maria Fabiana Jorge] Access to affordable drugs is a top policy priority for the United States with real bipartisan support but it increasingly seems to be an unreachable goal, in part, due to conflicting government policies. While the Administration’s Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs highlighted the importance of competition to ensure lower drug prices, U.S. trade policy in general, and the Special 301 Annual Review in particular, do exactly the opposite: broaden and lengthen the monopolies granted to pharmaceutical companies thus delaying or deterring the launch of generic and biosimilar drugs and with that, the chances of lowering drug prices.

The Right to Process Data for Machine Learning Purposes in the EU

[Mauritz Kop] Abstract: Europe is now at a crucial juncture in deciding how to deploy data driven technologies in ways that encourage democracy, prosperity and the well-being of European citizens. Normative preferences about how related technology laws ought to be designed should define sustainable exponential innovation policy. These preferences are dynamic and contextual. The upcoming European Data Act provides a major window of opportunity to change the story. In this respect, it is key that the European Commission takes firm action, removes overbearing policy and regulatory obstacles, strenuously harmonizes relevant legislation and provides concrete incentives and mechanisms for access, sharing and re-use of data. The article argues that to ensure an efficiently functioning European data-driven economy, a new and as yet unused term must be introduced to the field of AI & law: the right to process data for machine learning purposes.

The TRIPS Agreement Article 73 Security Exceptions and the COVID-19 Pandemic

[Frederick Abbott] Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused Governments to contemplate measures to override patents and other intellectual property rights (IPRs) in order to facilitate production and distribution of vaccines, treatments, diagnostics and medical devices. This paper discusses whether the COVID-19 pandemic may be considered an “emergency in international relations” and how WTO Member States may invoke Article 73 (“Security Exceptions”) of the TRIPS Agreement as the legal basis for overriding IPRs otherwise required to be made available or enforced. It concludes that the pandemic constitutes an emergency in international relations within the meaning of Article 73(b)(iii) and that this provision allows Governments to take actions necessary to protect their essential security interests.

From Struggle to Surge: China’s TRIPS Experience and Its Lessons for Access to Medicines

[Peter Yu] Abstract: The WTO TRIPS Agreement has imposed unprecedented burdens on countries in the developing world. Although many developing and least developed countries continue to struggle with the Agreement's high intellectual property protection and enforcement standards, large or populous emerging economies, such as Brazil, China, India, South Africa, Thailand, have managed to adapt the Agreement with some success. As economic and technological conditions improved, these emerging economies began to secure even greater benefits from the TRIPS-based intellectual property system, thereby initiating a self-reinforcing virtuous cycle. Out of all emerging economies, no country provides a better illustration for a complete transformation of its intellectual property system and pharmaceutical landscape than China.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Race: Intellectual Property, Collaboration(s), Nationalism and Misinformation

[Ana Santos Rutschman] Abstract: Vaccines have long played a crucial role in the prevention, mitigation and eradication of infectious diseases. More than any other recent outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the phenomenon of the vaccine race to the forefront of personal, national and global preoccupations. This symposium contribution examines the early features and takeaways of the COVID-19 vaccine race in four parts.