Intellectual property rights, compulsory licensing and the TRIPS agreement: Some ethical issues

2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. S63-S68
Author(s):  
Udo Schüklenk
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junaid Subhan

The World Trade Organization's (WTO's) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of 1994 seeks to implement a uniform set of intellectual property protection across member nations to provide greater stability in international economic relations. Critics argue that the TRIPS agreement provides unnecessarily strong protection of intellectual property rights which serves to prevent the ill in developing nations from having access to affordable essential medications. The first recommendation that this paper makes is to provide two sets of intellectual property protection, one that applies to essential medications such as AIDS drugs and certain antibiotics and another that applies to drugs that treat non-life threatening conditions. The second recommendation builds upon the first recommendation: if two sets of intellectual property protection legislation are enacted, patents on essential medications should be restricted to patents on processes rather than the product itself. The third recommendation seeks to amend the language of the TRIPS agreement to make it obligatory for member nations to implement provisions on compulsory licensing within their domestic legislation.


2014 ◽  
pp. 134-153
Author(s):  
Siddharth Partap Singh

There is a global consensus that domain of Intellectual Property should be subjected to criminal enforcement in order to secure the rights of owners of such Intellectual Property Rights. The TRIPS Agreement was, to some extent, successful in crystallizing the consensus as regards the criminal measures to be taken by States in the event of the infringement of Intellectual Property Rights through article 61. However, the standard set by the provision by minimal, to say the least. The advent of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has broader obligations, while also addressing some unsettled issues that have surfaced in disputes such as the China-IPRs case.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-65
Author(s):  
Trias Palupi Kurnianingrum

Patent as a branch of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) serves to protect inventions on the field of technology, one of them being medicine. The rise on the number of cases on the theft of genetic resources and traditional knowledge on the field of medicine for commercialization purposes shows that the protection of patent rights on traditional medicine knowledge is still not optimal. This article is the result of a normative juridical research which is supported by an empirical data, examines the protection of patent rights on traditional medicine knowledge and the implementation of Article 26 of Law No. 13 of 2016 on Patents (Patent Law year 2016). In the research results, it was mentioned that even though the TRIPs Agreement did not accommodate the traditional knowledge, the presence of Patent Law year 2016 complemented the Indonesian government's efforts to save the knowledge of traditional medicines from biopiracy and misappropriation. It is necessary to regulate the disclosure obligation in TRIPs agreement and further mechanism regarding benefit sharing and granting access to traditional medicines knowledge. AbstrakPaten merupakan salah satu cabang Hak Kekayaan Intelektual yang berfungsi untuk melindungi invensi di bidang teknologi, salah satunya obat-obatan. Maraknya kasus pencurian sumber daya genetik dan pengetahuan tradisional di bidang obat-obatan untuk tujuan komersialisasi menunjukkan bahwa pelindungan hak paten atas pengetahuan obat tradisional masih belum maksimal. Artikel ini merupakan hasil penelitian yuridis normatif yang didukung dengan data empiris, membahas mengenai pelindungan hak paten atas pengetahuan obat tradisional dan implementasi Pasal 26 Undang-Undang Nomor 13 Tahun 2016 tentang Paten (UU Paten 2016). Di dalam hasil penelitian, disebutkan meskipun Perjanjian Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) belum mengakomodasi pengetahuan tradisional namun hadirnya UU Paten 2016 melengkapi usaha pemerintah Indonesia dalam menyelamatkan pengetahuan obat tradisional dari biopiracy dan misappropriation. Perlu pengaturan kewajiban disclosure di dalam Perjanjian TRIPs dan mekanisme lebih lanjut mengenai benefit sharing dan pemberian akses atas pengetahuan obat tradisional.


2013 ◽  
pp. 1321-1333
Author(s):  
Nelson Edewor

Information Communication Technology (ICT) has raised new ethical concerns about the protection of personal privacy, protection of intellectual property, user responsibility, acceptable access and use of information, software licenses and piracy. A good ICT policy must be able to adequately consider these, and many other associated issues. This chapter therefore describes these ethical issues and how to deal with them as an individual or an organization. It provides information on the concept of ethics and the technological advancements responsible for the ethical concern. It discusses privacy, information rights, and intellectual property rights and ethics policy. The Nigerian national intellectual property right laws were examined in line with World Trade Organization/Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO/TRIP) compliance.


Author(s):  
Nelson Edewor

Information Communication Technology (ICT) has raised new ethical concerns about the protection of personal privacy, protection of intellectual property, user responsibility, acceptable access and use of information, software licenses and piracy. A good ICT policy must be able to adequately consider these, and many other associated issues. This chapter therefore describes these ethical issues and how to deal with them as an individual or an organization. It provides information on the concept of ethics and the technological advancements responsible for the ethical concern. It discusses privacy, information rights, and intellectual property rights and ethics policy. The Nigerian national intellectual property right laws were examined in line with World Trade Organization/Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO/TRIP) compliance.


Author(s):  
Correa Carlos Maria

This chapter focuses on the issue of exhaustion of rights. Article 6 disclaims any intent in the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement to limit the Members’ freedom to regulate the issue of exhaustion of rights with regard to all types of intellectual property rights (IPRs). It declares the admissibility of the international exhaustion of rights, that is, the possibility of legally importing into a country a product protected by intellectual property rights, after the product has been legitimately put on the market in a foreign market. These imports—made by a party without the authorization of the title-holder but equally legal—are generally known as ‘parallel imports’. Moreover, Article 6 of the TRIPS Agreement has left Member countries freedom to incorporate the principle of exhaustion of rights into their domestic law with a national, regional, or international reach. The issue as such cannot be the subject matter of a dispute settlement under the Agreement.


2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal Ali Mohamed ◽  
Claudia Chaufan

In 1993, the Canadian federal government ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Prior to ratification, compulsory licensing was eliminated from Canada’s Patent Act and intellectual property rights (IPRs) were strengthened. Compulsory licensing allows competitors to produce drugs under patent without the consent of the patent holder, challenging drug monopolies and lowering prices, whereas IPRs lengthen patent protections, shielding patent holders from competition and increasing prices. We perform a critical discourse analysis of key provisions in Chapter 17 of NAFTA in light of industry claims that pharmaceutical innovation requires important investments in research and development, justifying high drug prices. We note that since NAFTA, spending in research and development in Canada has decreased and drug prices have increased, becoming a major barrier to equitable access to critically necessary medications. We argue that by modifying the law, the federal government has wronged the Canadian people by discursively appropriating the language of protecting the public good while in practice legitimizing and consolidating private drug development and production, legalizing exorbitant profits, and excluding well-tested publicly financed alternatives. While NAFTA has now been superseded by the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement, our analysis offers important lessons moving forward.


2001 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 714-724
Author(s):  
Joe McMahon ◽  
Catherine Seville

This Journal's previous piece on current developments in EC intellectual property noted that this area of law is dominated by the drive towards harmonisation.1 This drive continues, and its success has been such that it can now begin to be seen in an overarching context of globalisation. The idea of a unified global system for the protection of intellectual property now seems at least conceivable, even if not immediately achievable. It is even possible to state that some stages have been achieved on the journey, most notably the TRIPs Agreement. Since adherence to this is a requirement of World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, the arguments in its favour have suddenly become “persuasive”. It represents a tremendous achievement in terms of the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights throughout the world. The World Intellectual Property Organisation's contribution here and elsewhere has been immense.


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