Category Trade Agreements

Extraterritoriality: Intellectual Property

[Timothy R. Holbrook] Abstract: Intellectual property rights, particularly patents, copyrights, and trademarks, have been the subject of international treaties for quite some time. Those treaties all treat intellectual property rights as national in nature, with attendant territorial limits. ... For extraterritoriality, that means that the use of one nation’s intellectual property to leverage control over the acts and markets of another have significant implications for sovereignty. These concerns could be vindicated through a robust use of conflicts of law in extraterritorial jurisprudence. The role of conflicts has been, at best, unclear in U.S. law. This chapter suggests, however, that when the conflict is one over the validity within the foreign country, conflict concerns should be at their apex. In other words, why should one jurisdiction allow an IP right holder to leverage a right into a country that would find that right invalid? This dynamic goes beyond merely holding someone liable for acts in a foreign country; it directly undermines the political choices of that sovereign in a far more significant way.

Waive Intelletual Property rights and Save Lives

[Srividhya Ragavan] In October of 2020, when India and South Africa proposed a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS agreement, it was meant to increase local manufacturing capacity in these countries... The waiver has an additional role to play in the larger trade schema. In enabling vaccination of populations across the globe, the waiver would be critical to normalize global trade.

A Critical Appraisal of the COVID-19 TRIPS Waiver

[Peter Yu] This chapter offers a critical appraisal of the COVID-19 TRIPS waiver proposal. It begins by identifying the arguments for the waiver. It then turns to arguments against the proposal, including those made by policymakers and commentators who question the waiver's effectiveness. After documenting both sides of the debate, this chapter concludes by exploring whether we should support the text-based negotiations on this instrument – and if so, whether we should also support its adoption.

WTO Extends Measures for LDCs to Access Knowledge, But Why not Go the Whole Way?

[Teresa Hackett] When members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) recently agreed to extend the transition period by which Least Developed Countries (LDCs) must apply WTO rules on intellectual property, it was a welcome decision. However, it fell short of what LDCs had requested, and left open the wider issue of the need for special and differential treatment after a country graduates from LDC status, especially relevant given the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applause as Australia Backs Covid Vaccine Patent Waiver

[Julia Conley] Vaccine equity advocates on Wednesday cheered as the Australian government bowed to a months-long pressure campaign demanding a suspension of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, after the country's top trade official said he officially supports the push for a "people's vaccine." Trade Minister Dan Tehan told a group of advocates in a private meeting on Tuesday that the Australian government would support a trade-related aspects of intellectual property (TRIPS) waiver proposal, and later confirmed the news to the press.

EU Proposals regarding Article 31bis of the TRIPS Agreement in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

[Nirmalya Syam] This Policy Brief presents an analysis of the proposal by the European Union (EU) with regards to Article 31bis of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), as part of a Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health in the circumstances of a pandemic. It discusses the EU’s proposed clarifications, why Article31bis does not provide an effective solution to promote access to pharmaceutical products and possible options.

EIFL WELCOMES WTO DECISION ON TRIPS WAIVER REQUEST

[Electronic Information for Libraries] EIFL welcomes the decision by members of the World Trade Organization​​ (WTO) to extend until 1 July 2034 the deadline for least developed countries (LDCs) to protect intellectual property under the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Although stopping short of the full LDC request, WTO members reached consensus on a 13-year extension of the current transition period, which expired on 1 July 2021.

The TRIPS COVID-19 Waiver, Challenges for Africa and Decolonizing Intellectual Property

[Yousuf Vawda] The intellectual property (IP) regimes of African countries are a function of their colonial past, which imposed strong protections, and which have been entrenched through the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). This has had a devastating effect on their ability to access necessary health products both before and during the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to reflect on the challenges that African countries face, before considering the implications of the WTO TRIPS waiver on COVID-19 (henceforth, waiver). In assessing the challenges faced by these countries, as well as the possibilities of improving access, this paper argues that while the waiver offers the best available solution to overcome the current supply shortages of a range of COVID-19 health products, in the longer term a break from this past—the decolonization of IP regimes—is necessary.

New Book – Intellectual Property Law and Access to Medicines: TRIPS Agreement, Health and Pharmaceuticals

[Srividhya Ragavan] Amaka Vanni and I are pleased to share our new book, Intellectual Property Law and Access to Medicines: TRIPS Agreement, Health, and Pharmaceuticals. The book maps 25 years of TRIPS from the perspective of access to medication discourse by looking at  three generations of access to medication debate.

The WTO TRIPS Waiver Should Help Build Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity in Africa

[Faizel Ismail] The current global health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has re-focused our attention on the inadequacy of the TRIPS agreement and the patent system to address global public health crises. This time, developing countries must ensure that the TRIPS waiver succeeds in creating the impetus for the building of manufacturing capacity in the poorest countries, especially in Africa, for vaccines, pharmaceuticals and other health technologies. This is the only effective way in which African countries can reduce their dependence on imports of essential medicines and build their health security, contributing to the achievement of the sustainable development goals, for the poorest countries.

Call for Proposals: Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest #IPWeek2021

From July 26 to September 10, the call for proposals will be open for the collaborative agenda of #IPWeek2021, Intellectual Property Week, the Public Interest, and COVID-19: learnings, discoveries, and challenges. This new version of Intellectual Property, Public Interest and COVID-19 Week will address the lessons and discoveries that the COVID-19 pandemic left to society, and future challenges in the post-pandemic period, in the relationship framework between intellectual property and the public interest.

Defending Access to Medicines in Regional Trade Agreements: Lessons From the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – A Qualitative Study of Policy Actors’ Views

[Belinda Townsend] ...The RCEP negotiations were initially framed as focused on the needs of low income countries. Public health concerns emerged however when draft negotiating chapters were leaked online, revealing pressures on countries to agree to intellectual property and investment measures that could exacerbate issues of access to medicines and seeds, and protecting regulatory space for public health. A concerted Asia Pacific civil society campaign emerged in response to these concerns, and in 2019, media and government reporting suggested that several of these measures had been taken off the table, which was subsequently confirmed in the release of the signed text in November 2020.