This book examines the relationship between intellectual property in pharmaceuticals and access to medicines from a human rights perspective, with a view to contributing to the development of a human rights framework that can guide States in enacting and implementing intellectual property law and policy. The study primarily explores whether conflicts between patents and human rights in the context of access to medicines are inevitable, or whether patents can be made to serve human rights. What could be a normative framework that human rights might provide for patents and innovation? Joo-Young Lee argues that it is necessary to have a deepened understanding of each of the two sets of norms that govern this issue, that is, patent law and international human rights law. The chapters investigate the relevant dimensions of patent law, and analyse particular human rights bearing upon the issue of intellectual property and access to medicines. This study will be of great interest to academic specialists, practitioners or professionals in the fields of human rights, trade, and intellectual property, as well as policy makers, activists, and health professionals across the world working in intellectual property and human rights.
"The research strategy, concepts, and methodologies developed in this book repay careful consideration not only for fruitful deployment to examine dynamics of health and intelectual property in other regions, but also for generating innovative insights in other fields of global regulatory governance"--Foreword.
Intellectual Property, Medicine and Health examines critical issues and debates including access to knowledge and medicinal products, human rights and development, innovations in life technologies and the possibility for ethical frameworks for intellectual property law and its application in public health. The central question of trust and the beneficial interests of society in the use of products of intellectual property, particularly in the fulfillment of the right to access medicinal products, emerge as key to achieving meaningful access to knowledge in health and medicine and the realization of relevant and equitable use of the benefits of scientific research in all societies.
Intellectual Property, Medicine and Health examines critical issues and debates, including access to knowledge and medicinal products, human rights and development, innovations in life technologies and the possibility for ethical frameworks for intellectual property law and its application in public health. The second edition accounts for recent and in some areas extensive developments in this dynamic and fast-moving field. This edition brings together new and updated examples and analysis in competition and regulation, gene-related inventions and biotechnology, as well as significant cases, including Novartis v Union of India.
This study has emerged from an ongoing program of trilateral cooperation between WHO, WTO and WIPO. It responds to an increasing demand, particularly in developing countries, for strengthened capacity for informed policy-making in areas of intersection between health, trade and IP, focusing on access to and innovation of medicines and other medical technologies.
This book explores the interface between intellectual property and human rights law and policy. The relationship between these two fields has captured the attention of governments, policymakers, and activist communities in a diverse array of international and domestic political and judicial venues. These actors often raise human rights arguments as counterweights to the expansion of intellectual property in areas including freedom of expression, public health, education, privacy, agriculture, and the rights of indigenous peoples. At the same time, creators and owners of intellectual property are asserting a human rights justification for the expansion of legal protections. This book explores the legal, institutional, and political implications of these competing claims: by offering a framework for exploring the connections and divergences between these subjects; by identifying the pathways along which jurisprudence, policy, and political discourse are likely to evolve; and by serving as an educational resource for scholars, activists, and students.
The book investigates varying experiences from the pandemic, providing a unique prism for assessing how IP balances competing requirements of innovation and access in times of crisis. Providing novel insight into the underlying principles of IP and how these cope under extreme pressures, Intellectual Property Rights in Times of Crisis will be an ideal read for scholars and students of intellectual property as well as those with an interest in health law and disaster law and health care law.
ÔAbbe BrownÕs new work provides a welcome and extremely valuable addition of the human rights dimension to the long standing conflict over essential technologies between intellectual property and competition law.Õ Ð Steven Anderman, University of Essex, UK and University of Stockholm, Sweden ÔMuch has been written on the flexibilities available within the intellectual property system to address development and social needs. This book goes a step further: it explores how greater access to essential technologies can be ensured through human rights and competition law. Although the analysis is focused on UK and the European Union, the book provides valuable insights for assessing the situation in other jurisdictions. The author suggests an innovative approach for courts and legislators to overcome, in the light of public interest considerations, the limits imposed by intellectual property rights. This book is a much welcomed contribution to academic and policy debates on the subject.Õ Ð Carlos M. Correa, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina ÔIntellectual property interacts (or clashes?) with human rights and competition law. The refreshing bit about this book is that a detailed practical approach to the inevitable balancing act is proposed. Abbe Brown explains how a human rights approach is the cornerstone of such a balancing approach and how positive results can be achieved towards unblocking essential technologies. And it can be done in the existing international legal framework, even if the latter could be improved. Well-researched, challenging and interesting reading!Õ Ð Paul Torremans, University of Nottingham, UK ÔAbbe BrownÕs study starts from the assumption that IP right owners, particularly those of innovative technologies, dispose of a disproportionate strong legal position in relation to that of competitors and customers, which is detrimental to society at large. Brown investigates how the power of the IP right owners can be limited by applying existing human rights law and competition law. To that aim it is suggested to widen the legal landscape and to develop a more tripartite substantive approach to IP law, human rights law and competition law. BrownÕs study offers a very welcome new contribution to the literature on the functioning of IP law, by stressing the joint role which competition law and human rights law can play in this respect.Õ Ð F. Willem Grosheide, Utrecht University and Attorney at law, Van Doorne Amsterdam, The Netherlands This detailed book explores the relationship between intellectual property, competition and human rights. It considers the extent to which they can and must be combined by decision makers, and how this approach can foster innovation in key areas for society Ð such as pharmaceutical drugs, communications software and technology to combat climate change. The author argues that these three legal fields are strongly interrelated and that they can be used to identify essential technologies. She demonstrates that in some cases, combining the fields can deliver new bases for wider access to be provided to technologies. The solutions developed are strongly based on existing laws, with a focus on the UK and the EU and the structures of existing forms of dispute resolution, including the European Court of Human Rights and the dispute settlement bodies of the World Trade Organisation. The final chapters also suggest opportunities for further engagement at international policy and activist level, new approaches to IP and its treaties, and wider adoption of the proposals. This timely book will appeal to academics and practitioners in IP, competition and human rights, as well as innovation-related industry groups and access to knowledge, health and environment activists.
