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Compulsory Licensing and Legal Issues in the Pharmaceutical Sector

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Introduction

As the awareness and adoption of patents grows across the globe, we look to evaluate the consequences to society as a result of protection through patents. We will look at both sides objectively – the side of the inventor who has been granted exclusive rights to his/her invention and the other side – whether patents can deny basic social rights such as health to society.

As we move further, we will look to understand a global framework (TRIPS) that provides guidelines on intellectual property regulations, the issue of compulsory licenses used by governments to circumvent patent protection and critically analyze specific cases where issuing compulsory licenses may be the need of the hour.

What is TRIPS?

TRIPS or Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights is an agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The agreement covers the following broad issues with respect to regulation of intellectual property (IP):
• Basic principles that apply to intellectual property rights agreements
• Protection to intellectual property rights
• enforcement of intellectual property rights across member nations
• settling disputes related to intellectual property rights between member nations

A key objective of TRIPS is to provide a common set of international rules or guidelines to ensure protection of patents around the world. TRIPS is unique because it binds any country to its system of intellectual property protection if that country wants to participate in international trade through the WTO. Membership in the WTO requires adherence to TRIPS.

Doha Declaration

Fearing a narrow interpretation of TRIPS would result in unfair imposition of patents created in developed nations, developing nations suggested talks at the WTO. The outcome of these talks was the Doha declaration, a clarification by WTO in 2001 that TRIPS

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