Category Coronavirus

COVID and Copyright – Impact on Education and Libraries in South Africa

In his online newsletter, President Ramaphosa regularly speaks about unemployment, poverty and various socio-economic problems that are negatively affecting millions of people in our country. He stresses the importance of education, social upliftment and the need to improve the lives of people with disabilities. He stresses the importance of a reading culture and an employed public. He talks about the various Government initiatives and plans underway to address many of these issues. Yet, he fails to acknowledge that access to information and knowledge-sharing are key elements for socio-economic development and advancement, teaching and learning, as well as creativity and innovation in South Africa.

Lessons from COVID-19: Pharmaceutical Production as a Strategic Goal

[Carlos Correa] As often said, major crises bring about challenges but also opportunities. The strategic importance of a local pharmaceutical industry has been growingly recognized as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Developing countries should take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen their pharmaceutical industry, including biological medicines. Industrial policies would need to be reformulated under an integrated approach so as to expand value added & create jobs while addressing public health needs. South-South cooperation may also play an important role in increasing the contribution of developing countries to the global production of pharmaceuticals.

Covid-19 Trade Secrets and Information Access: An Overview

[David Levine] The unprecedented Covid-19 (Covid) virus has brought to the forefront many challenges associated with exclusive rights, information sharing, and innovation. How do we get effective diagnostics, treatments and vaccines quickly and safely to the public? More specifically, how do we ensure that sufficient quantities are produced, that health products are affordable, and that they are equitably distributed globally? Among many challenges on the road to this outcome is the difficult question of how to handle trade secrets, namely, information that is valuable because others do not know it... For the public at large, Covid trade secrets raise two primary issues: (a) When do you have a Covid trade secret, and (2) Should access to that trade secret extend to competitors, civil society groups, and/or the public? Both are challenging questions, and the below presents a general overview of the framework for addressing each question.

Who is Facilitating Fair Use in the time of a Pandemic?

[Mehtab Khan] The pandemic has put several pressures on the scope of fair use. Within a matter of weeks, millions of people lost physical access that they normally would have had through libraries and cultural institutions. Fair use was built to be flexible for circumstances like these. But now that users have changed the way that they are accessing copyrighted works, primarily through intermediaries, this has implicated copyright and fair use in novel ways.

COVID LESSONS – COPYRIGHT AND ONLINE LEARNING

[Teresa Hackett] At the end of March, at the height of the global lockdown, UNESCO estimates that more than 1.5 billion learners in 193 countries were affected by country-wide or localized closures of schools and other educational institutions. The closures happened overnight and mid-way through the academic year, leaving no time for teachers and students to prepare. For education to continue, it had to move off-campus and online.

Intellectual Property, Innovation and Access to Health Products for COVID-19: A Review of Measures Taken by Different Countries

[Nirmalya Syam] Abstract: The rising incidence of COVID-19 will require all countries, particularly developing and least developed countries, to be able to procure and manufacture the products required for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Intellectual property (IP) rights over such products can constrain the ability of countries to rapidly procure and produce and supply the products required at a mass scale. This Policy Brief describes the measures and actions taken by different countries to address potential IP barriers to access to the products required for COVID-19.

QUT Forum on Access to Essential Medicines — 15 February 2017

This forum was hosted by the QUT Intellectual Property and Innovation Law Research Program and the Australian Centre for Health Law Research in the QUT Faculty of Law to coincide with the visit of the Hon. Michael Kirby to the QUT Faculty of Law. It assessed and evaluated the recommendations of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Access to Medicines. Access to medicines is a critical issue in respect of infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, the SARS virus, Ebola, and the Zika virus. There have been a number of obstacles and barriers in respect of access to medicines — including the high prices caused by monopolies, and the absence of appropriate treatments for neglected diseases.

Equitable Access to COVID-19 Related Health Technologies: A Global Priority

[Zeleke Temesgen Boru] Abstract: ... Even though the race to develop these technologies can be hailed as a pivotal undertaking, the development of health technologies alone may not expedite equitable access to the outcome of such development. Particularly, the lack of access to health technologies may befall if the conventional model of health technology pricing, which is derived from monopoly rights created by IP protection, is set. However, legal as well as policy tools can be used to overcome such hurdles and ensure global access to health technologies. In this sense, this paper discusses plausible legal and policy options that can help to accelerate access to health technologies targeting COVID-19.

Will Patents stop Covid drugs from saving lives?

[Ken Shadlen] The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a global race of public- and private-led research to develop vaccines and treatments. Will patents hinder access to the products it generates? ... With regard to treatments (the dynamics around vaccines may differ), access problems will mainly affect middle-income countries. While low-income countries will likely receive drugs at discounted prices, and with governments and philanthropic donors covering the costs, middle-income countries will face higher prices. To understand why, let’s compare Covid-19 to HIV/AIDS, and consider one potential treatment that has advanced in clinical development and about which we have enough patent information for an informed discussion.

PUTTING PLEDGED IP TO WORK – IDENTIFYING IP AVAILABLE UNDER THE OPEN COVID PLEDGE

[Jorge Contreras] Today, the Open COVID Pledge launched a new feature highlighting some of the valuable intellectual property (IP) that organizations around the world have committed to the fight against Covid-19. Pledged IP covers a broad range of equipment, software, network and device applications useful in healthcare, containment, tracking, diagnostics, emergency response and social distancing. It includes 3D-printed respirators, touch screens that use ultraviolet light to prevent the spread of infection, a Wi-Fi enabled floating hospital, methods for designing grocery stores to ensure social distancing, a low-cost, single-use ventilator, software for accelerating disease diagnosis, algorithms for routing emergency vehicles through traffic, a drive-up booth for Covid-19 testing, and much more. The Open COVID Pledge offers a platform that enables holders of patents and copyrights to commit these assets to the fight against Covid-19 on a royalty-free basis.