INTELELCTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND COVID-19
As we all know that COVID has
been taking over our lives now and it has been affecting various sectors of a
nation. The business sector is one of them which was largely hit by this
pandemic. The pandemic is also leaving a great impact on Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR) and on the IPRs in the process of receiving protections.
Before continuing with “IPR and
coronavirus”, we need to first understand what IPR is.
Intellectual Property (IP)
refers to creations of the mind such as
inventions, literary and artistic work, designs and symbols, names and
images used in business.
Intellectual Property Rights do not differ
from other property rights. They allow their owner to completely utilize them
and they also entitle him/her to prevent others from using, dealing or meddle
with his/her product without earlier permission. He/she can legally sue them
and force them to compensate him/her for using them without their prior
permission. IP is protected by law under patents, trademark, copyrights which
helps them to gain recognition and financial benefit from the same.
The World Health Organisation
(WHO) has a huge list of products that are needed for the treatment of
Coronavirus disease outbreak. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) estimates the
size of global trade of COVID-19 related medicines is $597 billion.
Carlos Correa, Executive
Director of developing world-centric think tank the South Centric says that the
global organisations like WHO, WTO and World Intellectual Property Organisation
(WITPO) should support WTO member countries that requests “security exception”
which is under Article 73 of the Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).
“The use of this exception will
be fully justified to procure medical products and devices or to use the
technologies to manufacture them as necessary to address the current health
emergency” he said.
Political leaders around the
world have also been developing plans for better access to COVID-19 related IP Rights.
Many countries around the globe are inspecting compulsory licensing mechanism
which would be beneficial to a lot of patients suffering from the virus.
Another exceptional development in the IP domain was when the EU was
contemplating buying rights to establish a publicly owned patent fund.
With COVID-19 pandemic, there
has been a desperate need for medical products worldwide, and people are
turning to 3D printing to fill the demand.
One of the earliest 3D prints
during the pandemic was on mid- February, when one Chinese manufacturer printed
over 300 goggles for medics in Wuhan with 50 3D printers working
simultaneously. Many designers, engineers, manufactures, doctors have used 3D
printing to print some of the most vital medical products like; face shields,
masks, ventilator components and many more.
At the same point, there are
important regulatory, intellectual property rights and other legal
considerations that should be taken care of and should be conscious of relying on these products.
In the heat of rapid
collaboration, testing of coronavirus. It is important to maintain confidentiality
and secure IP ownership.
Though I think that the 3D
community should take necessary measures and should collaborate with the
government and should include necessary legal claims and disclaimers on the
products manufactured by them and not make them liable to claims which have
lack of specific evidence which might affect the public health risk and to
respect the Intellectual Property Rights of others and to apply suitable
controls regarding the designs, materials, processes of the finished product.
POST BY: Siri Kota
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