Creative Commons Virtual Global Summit

This presentation explores intellectual property and access to medicines in the age of COVID-19 and vaccine nationalism. It will consider the campaign led by Winnie Byanyima of UNAIDS for the development of a People's Vaccine. The WHO has established the ACT Accelerator in order to boost research, development, and deployment of COVID-19 technologies. Costa Rica proposed a COVID-19 Technology Access Pool - which has been taken up by the WHO. The Medicines Patent Pool has expanded its jurisdiction to include the sharing of IP related to COVID-19. There has also been discussion of the use of compulsory licensing and crown use to counteract profiteering and anti-competitive behavior. There has been a push by UAEM and others for the public licensing of COVID-19 technologies developed with government funding. The Open COVID Pledge has been taken by a number of intellectual property owners. In response to the assertion of proprietary rights in respect of COVID-19 technologies, the open movement has championed the development of Open Science models of science. India and South Africa have put forward a waiver proposal in the TRIPS Council to enable countries to take action in respect of COVID-19 without fear of retribution under trade laws.

(If you miss the talk, you can watch an earlier version - The People’s Vaccine: IP, Access to Medicines, and the Coronavirus #COVID19 https://youtu.be/va5pmrlg0VU via @YouTube)