Chin-Ru Chang (National Taiwan University, College of Law) has posted Why the WTO Waiver on COVID-19 Related Intellectual Property Rights Should Be Adopted and Why It Is Not Enough on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
India and South Africa have proposed a waiver to temporarily suspend the protection of COVID-19 related intellectual property rights (hereinafter “WTO Waiver”) to the World Trade Organization (hereinafter “WTO”). However, disagreements largely between the developing and developed countries have stalled the negotiations at the WTO. This was not the first time such a disagreement between the protection of intellectual property rights and the protection of public health has arisen. To fully understand the underlying rationales for the WTO Waiver, looking back twenty years ago at the Doha Declaration will be helpful. The Doha Declaration was passed in 2001 by the WTO Ministerial Conference attempting to resolve the same disagreement, it serves as a testament to the developing countries’ long-time struggle to pursue equitable access to medicine. Sadly, as demonstrated in the disparity of vaccines between the higher-income and the lower-income countries, it is blatantly evident that the Doha Declaration has failed its original purpose. Reflecting on the Doha Declaration, this article hopes to answer why the waiver of WTO Waiver should be adopted and why it is not enough. After analyzing both the supporting and opposing arguments of the WTO Waiver, this article argues for the adoption of the WTO Waiver. It will also be demonstrated by this article that the WTO Waiver alone is not enough to solve the vaccine inequity, more progressive measures will be needed. Finally, this article calls for the fundamental reconsideration of the current system of intellectual property rights protection and its implication for access to medicine.