The Productive Efficiency of Science and Technology Worldwide: A Frontier Analysis

We are interested in how codified knowledge is produced around the globe (which inputs are used to produce scientific articles and patented inventions) and the efficiency of the process (how do the best performers produce more with the same inputs or produce the same with less inputs). Using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency frontier approach, we aim to determine which countries are more efficient at producing codified knowledge. We proxy knowledge production by publications and patents, obtained through human (researchers) and non-human (R&D expenditure) resources. We built a 15-year database with more than 800 observations of these and other variables. Our findings enable us to distinguish efficiency by country, geographical region, and income area. We run four different specifications and correlate the results with partial productivity indexes seeking consistency. Under constant returns to scale, the most traditional producers of knowledge are not fully efficient. Instead, small countries with limited resources appear to be efficient. When we add environmental conditions, both sets of countries are efficient producers of knowledge outputs. High-income regions, on the one hand, and East Asia, North America, and Europe and Central Asia, on the other, are the most efficient regions at producing knowledge.

Patents, access to health and COVID-19 – the role of compulsory and government-use licensing in Ireland

As the race for effective vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 continues, attention must turn to how such health-technologies will be accessed globally once developed. Patents play a significant role in this context because they give the patent-holder the right to stop others using patented inventions. Patents are available on diagnostics, medicines and vaccines and could form significant access obstacles for COVID-19. Moreover, whilst many patent-holders may be willing to license health-technologies reasonably, others may not. Therefore, it is imperative that national governments ensure effective avenues exist to intervene with patent-holder discretion via compulsory licensing. This article focuses on the legal framework applicable in Ireland for such compulsory licensing interventions, interrogating the effectiveness of the current framework in alleviating access issues posed by patents for COVID-19. It demonstrates how the current framework could be reformed to make it more effective in tempering patent-holder control, where needed, whilst remaining in compliance with Ireland’s international obligations.

Ukrainian experience in implementation of the flexible provisions of the TRIPS Agreement in the context of European integration and the pandemic

Keywords: intellectual property, human rights, patients' rights, pharmaceutical nationalism,protectionism, vaccines, generics, COVID-19 The article concerns the analysis of global trends in theparadigm of intellectual property rights on the objects used in the diagnosis, preventionand treatment of COVID-19. The experience of the implementation of pharmaceuticalnationalism policies provided by the EU, Canada and Israel are presented in the article.The authors provide the legal backgrounds of the need for Ukraine to be a co-sponsor ofthe IP waivers proposals, which are submitted to the TRIPS Council by some membersof the WTO. The authors stress the need for Ukraine to use the historic opportunity forthe development of the national pharmaceutical industry, which would contribute tothe interests of the domestic patient, and make proposals for the necessary changes tonational legislation.The authors also stressed the position of the governments of Germany and France.Thus, in Germany there is the Law on Governmental Use of Patented Inventions duringa Pandemic. The law provides, inter alia, for amendments to the Patent Law, accordingto which the Federal Ministry of Health has the right to authorize the use of relevantpatents to ensure the production and supply of pharmaceuticals or medical devices.In 2020, France adopted the Emergency Law № 2020-290 to combat theCOVID-19 epidemic, which introduced Article 3131 15 of the French Public HealthCode. This rule authorizes the Prime Minister to issue orders to recover or seize allgoods and services necessary to combat the disaster, to temporarily control the price ofproducts and, if necessary, to take any measures to ensure that patients are providedwith appropriate drugs to deal with the disaster, related to health. It is useful forUkraine to use the experience of Canada in terms of facilitating negotiations with majorvaccine manufacturers to establish national drug production and in terms of developinglegislation in the field of compulsory licensing.It is obviously, voluntary licences from patent owners, which provide for the fulltransfer of technology, and not just patent disclosure, are the most effective tool for thenational production of biosimilars. However, international experience shows that pharmaceuticalcompanies are holding back the issuance of compulsory licences. Therefore,our government's biosecurity portfolio should include an effective tool for compulsory licensingor emergency use of biosimilars and generic drugs by the Government.

The insights of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): Current understanding, research and therapeutic updates

Background: Humans can be infected with various coronaviruses that cause serious illness and death. One such pandemic strain of coronavirus was recently identified in December 2019 and lead to a devastating outbreak in Wuhan city of China. It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is highly contagious which causes symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath. Objective: The objective of this review is to highlight the current understanding, research and therapeutic updates of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: A thorough literature search was conducted for research papers and patents in context to COVID-19. All articles with respect to this subject was taken from various public repositories such as Google Scholar, Pubmed, ScienceDirect (Elsevier), Springer, Web of Science, etc. Results: The present analysis showed that key areas of the inventions were the vaccines and diagnostic kits apart from the composition for the treatment of CoV. It was also observed that no specific vaccine treatments are available for the treatment of 2019-nCov; however, developing novel chemical or biological drugs and kits for early diagnosis, prevention, and disease management is the primary governing topic among the patented inventions. The present study also indicates potential research opportunities for the future, particularly to combat 2019-nCoV. The current focus of the researches has turned towards developing four potential treatments including development of candidate vaccine, development of novel potential drugs, repurposing of existing drugs and development of convalescent plasma therapy. The PCR based diagnosis is the gold standard for the COVID-19 testing but it require resource time, expertise and high associated cost hence the researchers are also developing different diagnosis methods for the COVID-19. Although vaccines are being developed by various companies and have passed the pre-clinical stages but still there exists no guarantee for these to become the effective vaccine. The current treatments which are being used for COVID-19 patients are not well established and have limited success. Conclusion: The pandemic has challenged the medical, economic and public health infrastructure across globe. There is urgent need to explore all available and possible methods/approaches to study this disease for drug and vaccine development at the earliest.

From Banks to Shanks: the history of employee awards for patented inventions under the Patents Act 1977

The introduction of statutory awards for inventors in the Patents Act 1977 was highly controversial. Using original archival sources and parliamentary debates, the political battles that raged both in public and behind the scenes are explored. Central to the policy development was a report by a government-appointed Working Party; yet, until now, this report and its recommendations have not been published. The report represents a compromise agreement between representatives of both employers and employees. It was used by the government as the main defence of its policy. Using this report, and the contemporary political discussions, the small number of decisions of the comptroller and the courts will be examined to see if they reflect the balance struck by the Working Party, thereby providing a history of statutory employee awards in the United Kingdom as they have evolved over the last fifty years.

CIVIL LEGAL REGULATION OF THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF PATENTED INVENTIONS: THE CREATION OF INVENTIONS, THE LICENSING OF PATENT RIGHTS, THE SALE OF PATENT RIGHTS

In this article, issues of commercialization of intellectual property objects, which are one of the topical issues in the field of intellectual property, including the commercialization of patented inventions, their legal status, creation of inventions, licensing of patent rights,sale of patent rights, copyright rights, restoration of violated rights are considered. At the same time, the opinions of anumber of scientists on the commercialization of intellectual property objects in foreign countries and the Republic of Uzbekistan have been studied

Personal respiratory protective equipment: development of patenting and structure of inventions in the world (2000–2019)

Relevance. When working in hazardous conditions, eliminating accidents, fires and emergencies, personal respiratory protective equipment (RPE) helps optimize working capacity and preserve the health of workers and the population. The use of RPE is especially important in epidemics spreading by airborne droplets, i.e. in the pandemic of the coronavirus infection SARS-CoV-2. Intention. To analyze the development of patenting and types of inventions in the field of RPE in the world over 20 years from 2000 to 2019.Methodology. The object of the research was patents for inventions, in which headings included the types of respirators and gas masks according to the International Patent Classification (IPC). It should be noted that this classification is somewhat different from that adopted in Russia. Clarivate Analytics’ Derwent Innovations patent database was searched.Results and Discussion. The created search mode made it possible to find 5006 responses to patents for inventions, in which IPC headings were presented by types of respirators and gas masks. Annually, (250 ± 11) inventions with IPC headings by RPE type were paternted worldwide. The dynamics of patenting inventions resembles an inverted U-curve with maximum rates in 2014–2015 and some decrease in the last observation period. The largest contribution to the total array of inventions by RPE type was made by patent families affiliated with the United States (43.9 %), South Korea (22 %), Japan (21.2 %), China (19 %) and the European Patent Office (18.7 %). The structure of the analyzed inventions in the world included RPEs with compressed oxygen or air (7.5 %), with breathing-controlled valves dosing the supply of oxygen or air (4.4 %), with liquid oxygen (0.9 %), with oxygen-releasing chemicals (11.3 %), with filtering elements (20.6 %), hose (2.4 %), for high-altitude aircrafts (4.8%). RPE masks and RPE helmets accounted for 44.1 % and 4 %, respectively. There were regional differences in the patenting of inventions by RPE types.Conclusion. There were quite many domestic inventions on RPE with oxygen-releasing chemicals and with filter elements; the overall contribution of patented inventions in Russia for all RPE types was 6% of the total array.