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Compulsory licensing: an effective tool for securing access to Covid-19 vaccines for developing states?

Lowri Davies Orcid Logo

Legal Studies, Volume: 43, Issue: 1, Pages: 86 - 103

Swansea University Author: Lowri Davies Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1017/lst.2022.24

Abstract

A significant issue in combatting the Covid-19 pandemic is the need to enhance developing states’ access to Covid-19 vaccines. The present paper considers the request for a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights in relation to Covid-19 technologies and treatments submitted to the World Tra...

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Published in: Legal Studies
ISSN: 0261-3875 1748-121X
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2023
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59971
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Abstract: A significant issue in combatting the Covid-19 pandemic is the need to enhance developing states’ access to Covid-19 vaccines. The present paper considers the request for a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights in relation to Covid-19 technologies and treatments submitted to the World Trade Organization and analyses a key argument against the proposed waiver: that the compulsory licensing provisions set out in the TRIPS Agreement are sufficiently flexible to help states get access to vaccines. The compulsory licensing flexibilities set out in TRIPS, including the amendment to TRIPS in Article 31bis, are evaluated, to explore whether compulsory licensing could be an effective tool in helping developing states to access Covid-19 vaccines. Key issues are explored from a human rights perspective to examine whether a rights-based approach to the compulsory licensing provisions could offer further insights as to how the provisions could be more workable, to enhance access to medicines and vaccines for developing states.
Keywords: Intellectual property, TRIPS, compulsory licensing, vaccines, access to medicines, human rights
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Funders: Swansea University
Issue: 1
Start Page: 86
End Page: 103