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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