THE ETHICS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW IN THE AREA OF PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS AND VACCINES DURING TIMES OF PANDEMICS
Abstract
The course of the Covid 19 pandemic, has demonstrated the
serious obstacles to the availability and access to vaccines
for many less-developed countries. One obstacle involves
the pharmaceutical patents which limited the ability of
many countries to afford the necessary vaccines. For many,
the intellectual property laws created by the World Trade
Organization and TRIPS agreement has shown itself to
be unfair to less-developed countries. This is also seen as
a problem in global justice. There is an increasing belief
that pharmaceutical patents should be waived in times of
emergency. But the question is how to justify these waivers?
One approach might be the idea of the commons which
underlies intellectual property in it most basic form. This
paper explores ways of reforming intellectual property
law in light of the recent problems connected to the Covid
pandemic.
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