Patents And Health Debate Brings Key WIPO Committee To Standstill

After a day spent in informal meetings to try to agree on what should be the future work of the World Intellectual Property Organization patent law committee, delegates had to admit defeat. The main point of contention, according to sources, was the request by developing countries that the committee work on the issue of patents and access to medicines, and address the recommendations of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Access to Medicines. This request was met by blunt refusal by some developed countries as beyond the realm of the work of the committee.

The 25th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) took place from 12-15 December. The summary by the SCP chair [pdf] delivered in the afternoon had glaring gaps, particularly on future work.

Without an agreement on a future work, the SCP had to resort to the items of the work programme that had been approved [pdf] at the 24th session of the SCP to be carried out at the 26th session.

The two items left from the 24th session to be done for the 26th session is all that is now agreed for the 26th session. On the quality of patents, including opposition systems, the WIPO secretariat is expected to submit a compilation of information gathered from responses to a questionnaire submitted to member states. The questionnaire sought to understand how each member state understands “quality of patents”; and the implementation of cooperation and collaboration between patent offices, particularly in search and examination of patent applications.

On patents and health, the WIPO secretariat is expected to submit a study examining the constraints faced by developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs) in making full use of patent flexibilities and their impacts on the access to affordable medicines, in particular essential medicines, for public health purposes in developing countries and LDCs. WIPO should consult the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization, the 24th session decision said.

The SCP chair, Bucura Ionescu of Romania, proposed that the 26th session of the SCP carries out discussions on the same topics which were agreed upon at the end of the 24th session: Exceptions and limitations to patent rights, quality of patents, patents and health, confidentiality of communication between clients and their patent advisors, and transfer of technology.

Also kept on the table for further discussions at the next session is the proposal by the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC) on an update to the WIPO’s 1979 Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions.

Developing Countries Voice Disappointment, Dismay

A number of developing countries, such as the Asia Pacific Group and the African Group, expressed disappointment at the lack of agreement on the future work of the committee, and in particular on the reluctance of some developed countries to have even a mention of the report of the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines.

Nigeria, on behalf of the African Group said the group was “baffled” at the resistance exerted by many developed countries against discussing the effect of patents on access to medicines. The pharmaceutical industry, which ranks at the top of money-making industries, with oil industries and banks, are not charitable organisations and do need incentives to innovate, the Nigerian delegate said. However, in the context of life and death, member states should reflect further on the impact of the lack of access to medicines on developing countries, she said.

South Africa said it is “quite baffled” by the resistance of some developed countries to discuss issues that clearly are covered by the spectrum of the SCP. It is very important that the SCP continues to discuss problems identified in the patent system, particularly where such problems threaten to violate the integrity and legitimacy of the system, the delegate said.

The HLP report has identified such problems, which deserve be discussed at the SCP. The failure to reach agreement on future work is a loss for developing and least-developed countries which continue to grapple with issues of access to essential life-saving medicines, resulting in senseless deaths, he said.

Egypt, Iran, and Brazil also underlined the need to address the HLP report recommendations in the SCP.

Chile remarked that if the SCP decided to withdraw from the discussion, it will still go on in other fora, and without the contribution for WIPO, the discussions “will go on without us,” the delegate said.

GRULAC also said the questions of exceptions and limitations, patents and health, and technology transfer have particular importance for the group.

Developed countries generally consider that patents innovation and thus participate to global public health. In its closing statement, the EU said it regrets the outcome of the session and would have liked, in the future work, to have a discussion on the contribution of innovation to the improvement of global public health.

Ionescu also deplored the outcome of the session and said that short of agreeing on future work at the next session, the SCP might not be able to continue its work, “and it would be a pity.”

Aleman Confirmed in Director Position

Closing the session, Deputy Director General for the Patents and Technology Sector John Sandage said WIPO, too, regrets that it was not possible to agree on a programme of work of the next meeting.

On a more cheerful note, he announced that Marco Aleman, acting director of the WIPO Patent Law Division, has been appointed by WIPO Director General Francis Gurry as director of the Patent Law Division.

 

Image Credits: WIPO