Category Coronavirus

Pledging Intellectual Property for COVID-19

[Jorge L. Contreras, Michael B. Eisen, Ariel Ganz, Mark A. Lemley, Jenny Molloy, Diane Peters, and Frank Tietze] Abstract: COVID-19 differs from other recent public health crises with respect to its sudden onset, its rapid spread, the lack of any known vaccine or cure and resulting shortages of critical medical equipment. The convergence of these factors has prompted both governments and IPR holders around the world to seek ways to increase the availability of IPR necessary to combat the pandemic. Governmental compulsory licensing, IPR pools and voluntary IPR pledges have all been used in the past, though in situations that differ in important respects from the COVID-19 pandemic. Each is designed to result, to a greater or lesser degree, in a publicly-accessible “commons” of rights and technologies that are broadly available for use to support an important public health goals. Here, we compare and contrast these differing approaches to IPR commons formation and assess their suitability to address the COVID-19 crisis.

Copyright and COVID-19: Has WIPO learned nothing from the pandemic?

[Teresa Nobre] In November, Communia participated in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) 40th session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the most important forum at the global level for copyright rulemaking... Communia and other civil society observers were expecting the Committee to consider the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on these public interest activities, and take appropriate action. However, WIPO member states had previously decided that, due to the format of the meeting, they would not engage in negotiations on any of the items on their agenda. Therefore, despite references to the problems caused by the pandemic in several Delegations’ statements, none put forward any proposal to deal with these issues. Click here for more.

Practical Implications of ‘Vaccine Nationalism’: A Short-Sighted and Risky Approach in Response to COVID-19

[Muhammad Zaheer Abbas] Abstract: ...This paper highlights why it is important for national governments to support the collaborative and coordinated effort of the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility for the timely development and efficient delivery of potential COVID-19 vaccines. It concludes that an effective response to the current health and economic crisis should be guided by values of international solidarity, multilateralism, equality, and global collaboration. It proposes the adoption of an enforceable global framework to address the concerns arising from the combination of vaccine nationalism and intellectual property exclusivities.

Copyright limits and learning: lessons from the covid-19 quarantine

When the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the world in early 2020, most educational institutions from Dublin to Delhi were forced to close their classroom doors and take their teaching online. Textbooks were abandoned in student lockers and library books left untouched on shelves. Teachers had to pivot to remote delivery methods to ensure that students could successfully complete the ill-fated semester. But amidst the rapid move to Zoom Rooms, Course Moodles, home-recorded lectures, and posted PDFs, copyright restrictions reared their heads, casting into doubt the legality of the online learning practices that had suddenly become nothing short of necessary.

Patent-Related Actions Taken in WTO Members in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

[Xiaoping We and Bassam Peter Khazin] Abstract: ... This working paper provides an overview of the patent landscape of medical treatments and technologies related to COVID-19, and of the patent status of two investigational medical treatments: remdesivir and lopinavir/ritonavir. It then presents various patent-related actions taken by legislators, policymakers, industry sectors, and civil society organizations in WTO Members since the outbreak. Furthermore, it elaborates on patent-related policy options provided by the TRIPS Agreement, and WTO Members' national implementation and utilization of these options in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Doha Declaration for COVID-19? Professor Calls for Positive Agenda at WIPO SCCR

[PIJIP] Covid-19 has forced schools and universities around the world to abruptly move online, necessitating the reproduction and sharing of works in the digital environment. Yet many nations' copyright exceptions for education fail to protect user rights online. In his statement before the 40th World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), Professor Sean Flynn proposed a "Doha Declaration for Covid" to "explain and promote the current flexibilities in the international system, and encourage their expansive interpretation to fulfil human rights."

15 Years and a Pandemic Later: Are We THere Yet?

[Teresa Nobre] In our capacity of permanent observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 40th session of the Committee, which is taking place in a hybrid format of in-person and online participation from 16 to 20 November 2020. The following is the statement made on behalf of Communia on limitations and exceptions for educational and research institutions and for persons with other disabilities.

Over 100 civil society organisations call on the European Parliament to support COVID-19 WTO waiver proposal

[Médecins Sans Frontières] On 19 November 2020, more than 100 civil society organisations, including MSF Access Campaign, sent an open letter to European Parliament calling for support for India, South Africa, Eswatini and Kenya´s landmark proposal for a temporary waiver from certain intellectual property (IP) provisions under the Agreements on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for COVID-19 medical technologies.

HOW South Africa’s COPYRIGHT BILL WOULD BENEFIT CITIZENS DURING COVID

South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill had been sitting on the desk of President Cyril Ramaphosa for over a year, waiting to be signed into law. But instead of signing the bill, the President returned it to parliament citing constitutional concerns with certain aspects, including new exceptions for libraries, education and persons with disabilities. If enacted, the bill would have helped teaching, learning and research during COVID-19 lockdowns. Instead South Africans are forced to struggle under the current, outdated law. EIFL guest blogger Denise R. Nicholson, Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, discusses challenges and issues.

Updates to the PIJIP Patent Pledge Database

Patent pledges are voluntary commitments made by patent holders without monetary compensation to refrain from asserting their patent rights to the fullest degree. Such pledges have been around for decades and appear in industries ranging from software to automotive to green tech to biotech... Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, firms and institutions around the world have pledged patents and other intellectual property rights to assist with the pandemic response. These efforts include unilateral pledges such as those made by ventilator manufacturer Medtronic and vaccine maker Moderna as well as coordinated pledge efforts such as the Open COVID Pledge and the Japan-based Open COVID-19 Declaration.

Copyright Law and the Creative Industries – QUT Faculty of Law – 29 October 2020

[Research Symposium, QUT Faculty of Law, 29 October 2020] This event focused upon copyright law and the creative industries. It brought together legal scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners; creative artists from an array of disciplines; as well as theorists of new media and digital technologies. The event considered the origins of copyright law, policy, and practice. Speakers explored their recent historical work about the foundation and evolution of copyright law and policy.

Creative Imitation at the Front of Pharma Biotechnology Opportunities: Some Lessons from Late Late Industrialization Countries

[Pablo Lavarello and Sebastián Sztulwark] Given that high-cost biopharmaceutical drug patents have started to expire since the early 2000s, biotechnology opens up opportunities for developing countries to pursue an upgrading process by entering the sector as early imitators. Developing these opportunities was transformed on priority needs of health systems since the outbreak of COVID-19. Certain developing countries have advanced in a strategy of imitating biotechnological reference drugs once their patents have expired, opening a possibility for a catching up process.