Exploring the flexibilities of TRIPS to promote biotechnology capacity building and appropriate technology transfer

Produced for the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme as part of the project 'Impacts of the IPR Rules on Sustainable Development (IPDEV)

Addressing vaccine inequity during the COVID-19 pandemic: the TRIPS intellectual property waiver proposal & beyond

This article examines global vaccine inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic. We critique intellectual property (IP) law under the 1995 WTO TRIPS Agreement, and specifically, the role that IP plays in enabling the inequities of production, distribution and pricing in the COVID-19 vaccine context. Given the failure of international response mechanisms, including COVAX and C-TAP, to address vaccine inequity, we argue the TRIPS waiver proposal offers a necessary and proportionate legal measure for clearing IP barriers that cannot be achieved by TRIPS flexibilities. Finally, we reflect on the waiver in the wider context of TRIPS

The TRIPS intellectual property waiver proposal: creating the right incentives in patent law and politics to end the COVID-19 pandemic

The structure of global intellectual property law as incorporated in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is implicated in the current lack of COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment, medicines and diagnostics (hereafter, ‘health-technologies’), which are needed to combat the pandemic. Although equitable access to vaccines is in the moral, political and economic interests of the global public and requires global solidarity, the phenomenon of COVID-19 ‘vaccine nationalism’ has brought into sharp relief the misalignment of current legal and financial incentives to produce and distribute vaccines equitably. The crisis further demonstrates the failure of high-income countries (HICs) to realise the promise they made at the time of the TRIPS negotiations in 1994, that by agreeing to the terms of TRIPS, lower and middle-income countries (LMICs) would benefit from technology transfer and the building of productive capacity. As such, the current crisis is revealing not only of inadequacies of how to deal with global emergencies, but also of deficiencies within the international ‘patent bargain’ itself. This paper elucidates the legal issues surrounding the ‘TRIPS waiver’ proposal initially put forward by India and South Africa in October 2020, which, as of May 2021, is supported by more than 60 states, and which has received statements of support from the World Health Organisation (WHO). We analyse the different intellectual property rights relevant to the proposal – focusing primarily on patent rights and trade secrets – which are most relevant to the present COVID-19 vaccine context. We explain why the existing TRIPS flexibilities around compulsory licensing are incapable of addressing the present pandemic context adequately, both in terms of procedure and legal substance. The extent of the current health crisis posed by COVID-19 is as undeniable as the current global response is untenable. Given the ongoing absence of sufficient engagement by the pharmaceutical industry with proposed global mechanisms to share intellectual property rights, data and know-how to address the pandemic, we argue that mandatory mechanisms are needed. The TRIPS waiver is an essential legal instrument in this context for enabling a radical increase in manufacturing capacity, and hence supply, of COVID-19 vaccines, creating a pathway to achieve global equitable access. We make two arguments to this effect: first, the TRIPS waiver is a necessary and proportionate legal measure for clearing intellectual property (IP) barriers in a direct, consistent and efficient fashion, enabling the freedom to operate for more companies to produce COVID-19 vaccines and other health technologies without the fear of infringing another party’s IP rights and the attendant threat of litigation; and second, the TRIPS waiver acts as an important political, moral and economic lever towards encouraging solutions aimed at global equitable access to vaccines, which is in the wider interest of the global public

COVID-19 vaccines: wealthier nations, including the UK, must drop their opposition to the proposed TRIPS waiver at the WTO

Waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines would help boost production and distribution to the world’s poorer countries, particularly as infection levels are once again rising across the globe, and new mutations risk rendering existing vaccines ineffective. A temporary waiver proposal put forward by India and South Africa was nevertheless blocked by a number of wealthier nations, including the UK. In an open letter signed by over 120 academics, Hyo Yoon Kang, Aisling McMahon, Graham Dutfield, Luke McDonagh, and Siva Thambisetty urge that the waiver must be supported

"Intellectual property" and indigenous peoples in the international human rights arena

This presentation was given as part of the Expert Seminar on Indigenous Cultures and Languages in collaboration with the UN by Professor Graham Dutfield from the University of Leeds. The seminar, hosted at Brunel University, took place on the 8th and 9th March 2012 and was organised by Brunel Law School's Human Rights Research Centre. The initiative, fronted by Dr Alexandra Xanthaki of Brunel Law School, represents a positive example of how academia, the civil society and the international community can come together with vulnerable groups to help the regain their rights

Knowledge Management and the Contextualisation of Intellectual Property Rights in Innovation Systems

Support for this research was provided by Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute and Genome Alberta © David Castle et al 2010.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Assessing climate action progress of the City of Toronto

The Canadian City of Toronto’s progress is evaluated for the implementation of its climate action plan, TransformTO, and its effectiveness in reducing sectoral emissions. Following a brief history of climate action in Toronto, the key climate policies and programs are subjected to a content analysis and assessed using an aggregate evaluation framework composed of qualitative indicators commonly used to track municipal climate action. The results of this assessment reveal that the city has made steady progress in reducing emissions, surpassing its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 30% reduction below 1990 levels. However, Toronto is not on track to meet its 2030 target of a 65% emissions reduction from 1990 levels. Without transformational action across all sectors, it is unlikely to meet the 2030 and 2040 targets. The results are intended to strengthen implementation and evaluation efforts in Toronto. The discussion will be of interest to decision-makers and practitioners who seek to accelerate implementation of municipal climate action plans. Policy relevance This paper is intended to support and strengthen the City of Toronto’s implementation of its climate action plan, TransformTO, and supporting Net Zero Strategies. Of potential relevance to policymakers in other Canadian cities is the role of ambitious top-down target-setting of the municipal organization and city at large for pursuing bold climate action, even in the face of significant constraints (e.g. provincial building code and energy grid, difficulties in accessing utilities energy use data). Policymakers may also draw insights from the Toronto context for leveraging staff and community commitment to climate action by involving them in planning and implementation of emissions reductions strategies. Useful recommendations are provided for overcoming modeling deficiencies and data limitations, while advancing transformative climate action through multi-sectoral partnerships, policies that support market transformation, the scale-up of low carbon programs and investments in low carbon infrastructure