Analysis at the intersection of intellectual
property law and the public interest.
[Excerpt from essay published in the New England Journal of Medicine] The Internet has inspired multiple movements toward greater openness — most prominently, open access, open data, open science, and open educational resources. None of these is based on the belief that there should be such a thing as a free lunch, but each recognizes […]
Introduction: On February 27, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and ViiV Healthcare UK Limited (ViiV) announced their License Agreement on an older antiretroviral (ARV), abacavir (ABC), for pediatric treatment only, in 118 countries where 98.7% of child living with HIV live. They also entered into a separate, non-binding Memorandum of Agreement (MoU), which promises collaboration […]
The approach to copyright limitations and exceptions differs significantly in each country depending on what models they are following. Generally speaking, there are three models of limitations and exceptions to copyright[1]: 1) the U.S. fair use model, 2) the fair dealing model in most U.K Commonwealth and Continental European countries, and 3) a combination of […]
[MPP press release, (CC-BY-NC-ND)] The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) today announces the launch of a new collaboration with ViiV Healthcare – a joint venture of GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Shionogi – to facilitate greater availability of critically needed medicines for children living with HIV. There are 3.4 million children living with HIV worldwide. But only 562,000 […]
Failure to extend the transition period for least-developed countries to become fully compliant with the TRIPS Agreement could put millions of lives at risk [UNAIDS Press Release] The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a new Issue Brief TRIPS transition period extensions for least-developed countries. […]
Attached here is a letter from hundreds of civil society groups (representing millions of people worldwide) to members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) urging them to support the request and draft decision text proposed by the Least developed Countries (LDCs) to the WTO on extending the waiver that exempts LDCs from implementing the WTO-TRIPS […]