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Compulsory Licensing – a Possible Limitation of Patent Protection for Covid-19 Vaccines

Kochański & Partners Spółka Komandytowa

  • Agregado 22 abril 2021
  • ·

In view of the scale of the pandemic, the development by scientists of drugs and vaccines to help defeat the virus, and their associated production have become top priority.

 

In view of the scale of the pandemic, the development by scientists of drugs and vaccines to help defeat the virus, and their associated production have become top priority. A fact worth knowing is that states struggling with the virus may apply an extraordinary legal instrument against patent holders, known as compulsory licensing – writes Karolina Marciniszyn, Patent Attorney, Partner and Head of Intellectual & Industrial Property Law Practice, for Prawo.pl.

 

Anyone coming into professional contact with the pharmaceutical industry quickly notices that intellectual property rights, in particular patents, are among key pharmaceutical business aspects. Patents are crucial, since they enable pharmaceutical companies to commercialise certain inventions. It usually takes years of scientific work, research and experience, and primarily considerable financial investment, for an invention to come into being. In the fight against a pandemic, however, the question arises as to whether it is possible to limit the monopoly of the patent holder, so that others can also make use of a patent and, for example, produce a vaccine. Well, it is possible, since legislation, including EU law, provides for the institution of compulsory licensing.

 

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