scholarly journals Scrutinized: The TRIPS Agreement and Public Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junaid Subhan

The World Trade Organization's (WTO's) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of 1994 seeks to implement a uniform set of intellectual property protection across member nations to provide greater stability in international economic relations. Critics argue that the TRIPS agreement provides unnecessarily strong protection of intellectual property rights which serves to prevent the ill in developing nations from having access to affordable essential medications. The first recommendation that this paper makes is to provide two sets of intellectual property protection, one that applies to essential medications such as AIDS drugs and certain antibiotics and another that applies to drugs that treat non-life threatening conditions. The second recommendation builds upon the first recommendation: if two sets of intellectual property protection legislation are enacted, patents on essential medications should be restricted to patents on processes rather than the product itself. The third recommendation seeks to amend the language of the TRIPS agreement to make it obligatory for member nations to implement provisions on compulsory licensing within their domestic legislation.

Author(s):  
Shinu Vig ◽  
Teena Bagga

Compulsory licensing is defined generally as the granting of a license by a government to use a patent without the patent-holder's permission. As applied to international intellectual property rights, it allows governments to grant licenses for patent use in situations where the patent-holder is either not using the patent within the country or is not using it adequately. Most of the drugs for which compulsory licenses have been granted in India are used for treatment of life-threatening diseases. The pharmaceutical companies however object on the ground of violation of their patent rights. This chapter discusses the provisions for compulsory licensing in TRIPs and the India patent system.


Author(s):  
Correa Carlos Maria

This concluding chapter looks at the acquisition and maintenance of intellectual property rights (IPRs), dispute prevention and settlement, transitional and institutional arrangements, and final provisions in the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. Different aspects relating to the procedures for the acquisition and maintenance of intellectual property rights are regulated in Article 62 of the TRIPS Agreement. Its main purpose is to ensure that the application of national legislation on this matter does not unjustifiably impair the access to and exercise of such rights. Meanwhile, Articles 63 and 64 contain rules aimed at preventing and settling disputes concerning the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. Prevention of disputes is basically sought under the TRIPS Agreement through the rules on ‘transparency’ contained in Article 63. All WTO Members could avail themselves of one year after the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement to comply with the obligations relating to intellectual property protection. The reason for this is quite obvious: most or all Members, including developed country Members, needed to introduce changes into their legislation in order to comply with the standards set out by the TRIPS Agreement, especially with those contained in Part II. A Council to specifically deal with TRIPS matters is established by Article 68.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-442
Author(s):  
Nadia Naim

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to assess how Islamic finance can act as a vehicle to enhance the current intellectual property rights regime in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Islamic finance has developed within the constraints of sharia law and has been a growth sector for the GCC. This article will identify the main principles of Islamic finance that contribute to the success of Islamic finance, which can enhance intellectual property protection in the GCC. The main sharia-compliant areas to be considered are musharaka, mudaraba, murabaha, takaful, istisna, ijara, salam and sukuk. The article will outline the founding principles of Islamic finance, the governance of sharia boards, development of Islamic finance in the individual GCC states, different frameworks of sharia-compliant investment products and the impact of intellectual property rights on the varying Islamic finance investment tools. Furthermore, the article will discuss an integrated approach to intellectual property rights which learns lessons from the Islamic finance sector in relation to infrastructure, regulation and sharia compliance. The lessons learnt from Islamic finance will inform the overall framework of recommendations for an Islamic intellectual property model. The use of Islamic finance as a vehicle to promote better intellectual property rights in terms of defining a new intellectual property approach is novel. It is aimed at spearheading further research in this area, and it will form a part of the overall integrated approach proposals to intellectual property protection in the GCC and beyond.


2014 ◽  
pp. 134-153
Author(s):  
Siddharth Partap Singh

There is a global consensus that domain of Intellectual Property should be subjected to criminal enforcement in order to secure the rights of owners of such Intellectual Property Rights. The TRIPS Agreement was, to some extent, successful in crystallizing the consensus as regards the criminal measures to be taken by States in the event of the infringement of Intellectual Property Rights through article 61. However, the standard set by the provision by minimal, to say the least. The advent of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has broader obligations, while also addressing some unsettled issues that have surfaced in disputes such as the China-IPRs case.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-65
Author(s):  
Trias Palupi Kurnianingrum

Patent as a branch of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) serves to protect inventions on the field of technology, one of them being medicine. The rise on the number of cases on the theft of genetic resources and traditional knowledge on the field of medicine for commercialization purposes shows that the protection of patent rights on traditional medicine knowledge is still not optimal. This article is the result of a normative juridical research which is supported by an empirical data, examines the protection of patent rights on traditional medicine knowledge and the implementation of Article 26 of Law No. 13 of 2016 on Patents (Patent Law year 2016). In the research results, it was mentioned that even though the TRIPs Agreement did not accommodate the traditional knowledge, the presence of Patent Law year 2016 complemented the Indonesian government's efforts to save the knowledge of traditional medicines from biopiracy and misappropriation. It is necessary to regulate the disclosure obligation in TRIPs agreement and further mechanism regarding benefit sharing and granting access to traditional medicines knowledge. AbstrakPaten merupakan salah satu cabang Hak Kekayaan Intelektual yang berfungsi untuk melindungi invensi di bidang teknologi, salah satunya obat-obatan. Maraknya kasus pencurian sumber daya genetik dan pengetahuan tradisional di bidang obat-obatan untuk tujuan komersialisasi menunjukkan bahwa pelindungan hak paten atas pengetahuan obat tradisional masih belum maksimal. Artikel ini merupakan hasil penelitian yuridis normatif yang didukung dengan data empiris, membahas mengenai pelindungan hak paten atas pengetahuan obat tradisional dan implementasi Pasal 26 Undang-Undang Nomor 13 Tahun 2016 tentang Paten (UU Paten 2016). Di dalam hasil penelitian, disebutkan meskipun Perjanjian Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) belum mengakomodasi pengetahuan tradisional namun hadirnya UU Paten 2016 melengkapi usaha pemerintah Indonesia dalam menyelamatkan pengetahuan obat tradisional dari biopiracy dan misappropriation. Perlu pengaturan kewajiban disclosure di dalam Perjanjian TRIPs dan mekanisme lebih lanjut mengenai benefit sharing dan pemberian akses atas pengetahuan obat tradisional.


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