Tag Archives: WTO

Late last night, the new US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, announced that the Biden-Harris administration is now supporting the waiver of IP protections for Covid-19 Vaccines. The short statement is available here and I reproduce it in full below: United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai today released a statement announcing the Biden-Harris Administration’s support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines. “This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures….

COVID-19 Patent

A Recipe for Disaster: Export Bans, TRIPS Waiver and Hyper Nationalism

by Praharsh Gour April 25, 2021

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(Long post ahead) On 23rd April, Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, revealed that the Biden administration is not considering lifting the export bans on the necessary raw materials for the COVID-19 vaccine. This refusal comes in response to the requests (see here and here) made by the SII CEO Adar Poonawalla to get rid of the export bans and assist in ramping up the outputs of vaccines in the global market. (Side note: Back in Feb,…

India on TRIPS Waiver: Will WTO Pass the Test of Humanity?

by Swaraj Paul Barooah December 20, 2020

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India, through its Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the WTO, delivered a short but strong statement at the WTO TRIPS General Council Meeting held between 16-18th December, 2020, on the on-going TRIPS waiver proposal. (context here for those unaware of the waiver proposal – in brief, South Africa and India proposed a waiver for the WTO TRIPS provisions that relate to, i.e., restrict, vaccines, treatment options, etc for Covid-19, for the duration of the pandemic). Pointing out that making the…

COVID-19 Innovation Patent

COVID-19 Vaccines: Patent Ownership and the Barriers to Equitable Access

by Adyasha Samal December 2, 2020

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The race to develop vaccines for COVID-19 has edged closer to its finishing line with at least three candidates announcing positive results from their vaccine trials. While this may appear to be the light at the end of the tunnel, the focus now shifts towards equally challenging issues of availability, accessibility, and affordability of vaccines. In this post, I discuss the vaccines developed by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford, the complex ownership status of their intellectual property, the bilateral pre-purchase deals…

Wishful Thinking? Analyzing India and South Africa’s Joint Statement to Waive Key Provisions of TRIPS- Part II

by Praharsh Gour October 20, 2020

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In the first part of this two-part post, I assessed the joint statement proposed by South Africa and India for waiver of certain key provisions of TRIPS. Following the joint statement, 379 NGOs and members of civil societies wrote to WTO, in support of the waiver. On the day of the meeting, the proposal attracted the support of a large number of developing countries and LDCs, notably Tanzania, Chad, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Venezuela, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Egypt, Indonesia, Argentina,…

Wishful Thinking? Analyzing India and South Africa’s Joint Statement to Waive Key Provisions of TRIPS – Part I

by Praharsh Gour October 20, 2020

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On 2nd October, 2020, India and South Africa issued a joint statement before the WTO TRIPS Council, with a request to waive “the implementation, application and enforcement of Sections 1, 4, 5, and 7 of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19.” This waiver, annexed with a draft decision for the WTO General Council, was requested to ensure that IPRs do not encumber the access to affordable medicines or R&D, manufacturing and…

Trademark

Of Paper Tigers and English: WTO Appellate Body Report in Tobacco Plain Packaging Dispute

by Adarsh Ramanujan August 21, 2020

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As a law school student, I once heard an accomplished practitioner of international law stating that “International law is English”. The WTO Appellate Body’s Report in the tobacco plain packaging dispute issued in June this year proves something more than this statement: “International law is convoluted English”. I had previously written about the WTO Panel Report in this dispute (or set of disputes), which are available here and here. Background To recollect, this set of disputes concerned Australia’s legislative measures…

COVID-19 Patent

Should India Invoke Section 157A of Patents Act in the Context of Covid-19?

by SpicyIP July 27, 2020

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We’re pleased to bring to you a guest post by Shirin Syed, looking at the potential application of Article 73(b) of WTO TRIPS / Section 157A of the Indian Patents Act in the context of Covid-19. Shirin is an IP researcher and scholarship awardee from Texas A&M University, School of Law, USA for the fall of 2020. Should India Invoke Section 157A of Patents Act in the Context of Covid-19? Shirin Syed In response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a…

A Look at the WTO Panel Report in ‘Saudi Arabia- Measures Concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights’

by SpicyIP July 4, 2020

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Football fans may be aware of the joint statement last year by various sports bodies including Fifa, LaLiga, Premier League, and others, against the Saudi Arabia based beoutQ broadcaster for their unauthorized streaming of content on a commercial scale, as well as their (i.e., the copyright holders) inability to obtain legal counsel in Saudi Arabia in this matter, among other issues. In the meanwhile, Qatar had taken this matter to the WTO, and on 16th June 2020, the WTO Panel…

Others

A Weak Case against America’s Suspension of GSP Benefits for India?

by Prashant Reddy April 2, 2020

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I read with interest, and some puzzlement, Srividya’s speedy rebuttal to my post yesterday where she examines America’s case for suspending GSP benefits. It is in keeping with a tradition that we have where I write a piece and she responds to a couple of lines from my piece. Please click here for the previous edition. I am not quite sure how we went from discussing Bayer’s licensing woes to COVID-19 and food shortages but since the door has been…

Anon { Filing this application was clearly a strategic move but I'm surprised that this article doesn't point out that the govt has to issue a notification first in the... }
Kunal Bindra { Would be very interesting to see how 'ordinarily' is interpreted. Section 30 anyway allows PPL and Novex to function as de facto Copyright Societies/CMOs. }
Adyasha Samal { That's right, it is an ad-interim injunction. I realize that's not very clear from the post (will add an edit), but my point here is not that granting... }
Jagdish Sagar { I have noticed this interesting article a little late. Three comments: (1) there is absolutely no discussion or reference to section 3 of the Copyright Act which defines... }
Anon { "It is important to note that S&S Canada had not filed a written statement, but the interim injunction was granted nonetheless." Please note that the language of the... }

De-Coding Indian Intellectual Property Law

Tag Archives: WTO

In Major Turnaround, US Announces Support for IP Waiver of Covid Vaccines

A Recipe for Disaster: Export Bans, TRIPS Waiver and Hyper Nationalism

India on TRIPS Waiver: Will WTO Pass the Test of Humanity?

COVID-19 Vaccines: Patent Ownership and the Barriers to Equitable Access

Wishful Thinking? Analyzing India and South Africa’s Joint Statement to Waive Key Provisions of TRIPS- Part II

Wishful Thinking? Analyzing India and South Africa’s Joint Statement to Waive Key Provisions of TRIPS – Part I

Of Paper Tigers and English: WTO Appellate Body Report in Tobacco Plain Packaging Dispute

Should India Invoke Section 157A of Patents Act in the Context of Covid-19?

A Look at the WTO Panel Report in ‘Saudi Arabia- Measures Concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights’

A Weak Case against America’s Suspension of GSP Benefits for India?