Rethinking Intellectual Property in Public Health Crises

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-748-9_82How to use a DOI?

Keywords

TRIPS; TRIPS Waiver; COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed major flaws in the global intellectual property system governed by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, particularly in its ability to address global health emergencies. These shortcomings highlight the ongoing tension between protecting intellectual property rights and ensuring equitable access to life-saving medical technologies, especially for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study examines the impact of the TRIPS Agreement on public health and evaluates the TRIPS waiver, proposed during the pandemic, as a potential solution to these challenges. Using case analysis, comparative studies, and a literature review, the paper explores key provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, including Articles 27, 28, 31, and 31bis. It investigates how these provisions have influenced responses to global health crises and critically examines the TRIPS waiver’s role in addressing vaccine inequities by allowing countries to bypass patent-related barriers and foster international collaboration. The findings show that, while the TRIPS waiver introduces important flexibilities, it does not fully address deeper structural challenges. These include limited technology transfer and insufficient manufacturing capacity in LMICs. The study concludes that achieving a balance between intellectual property protections and public health priorities requires broader reforms. These reforms should focus on strengthening global cooperation, improving technology sharing, and enhancing infrastructure. Such measures are critical for creating a more equitable global health governance system.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Huiying Lu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/07/03
TI  - Rethinking Intellectual Property in Public Health Crises
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Financial Risk and Investment Management (ICFRIM 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 742
EP  - 752
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-748-9_82
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-748-9_82
ID  - Lu2025
ER  -