infoJustice

Left on Our Own: COVID-19, TRIPS-Plus Free Trade Agreements, and the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health

[Melissa Omino and Joanna Kahumbu] The cusp of the twentieth anniversary of the WTO Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (hereafter “the Declaration”) was marked by a global pandemic. The Declaration and its iteration in the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (hereafter “TRIPS”) Article 31 bis, should have helped to contain the devastation in least developed and developing countries. The reality is that the pandemic is still ongoing, and the Global South led by South Africa and India are seeking a waiver of provisions to the TRIPS Agreement to ensure that COVID-19 therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccines reach their citizens in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The Copyright Experience of the University of the South Pacific: a Union Perspective

[Elizabeth Reade Fong] Legislation is meant not only to protect but to bring equity. And copyright legislation is not meant to be any different. However, the reality on the ground in a developing country like Fiji has only reinforced the inequity of access to and, more importantly, the use of information for learning and teaching and research for libraries and educational institutions. The pandemic exacerbated the situation!

India-UK FTA Leaked Draft Reveals Nobody’s Gain Except Big Pharma

[Shirin Syed] The draft of the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) chapter on intellectual property, leaked on October 31, reveals that there are several TRIPS-plus provisions which will devastate the global supply of generic medicines. The FTA contains harmful IP provision such as diluting the patentability standards, overriding section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act and eliminating pre-grant opposition. If implemented, these provisions would pose a serious threat to the accessibility and affordability of medicines in India and globally.