Intellectual Property, COVID-19 and the Next Pandemic Diagnosing Problems, Developing Cures

This volume assesses the role of intellectual property in pandemic times through lessons learned from COVID-19. Authored by an international roster of experts, chapters diagnose causes for the inequitable distribution of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines and offer concrete suggestions for reform. From delinking vaccine development from monopoly rights in technology, to enhanced legal requirements under national and international law for sharing publicly funded technologies, to requiring funding from rich nations to former colonies to build local vaccine manufacturing capacity in low and middle-income countries (including those in Africa), this work highlights timely IP reforms that prepare us for the next pandemic. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Introduction: Intellectual property and 'the lost year' of COVID-19 Deaths Madhavi Sunder and Haochen Sun; Part I. Reconsidering Key Theoretical and Policy Issues: 1. New and heightened public-private quid pro quos: leveraging public support to enhance private technical disclosure Peter Lee; 2. Global medical war chest Lawrence O. Gostin; 3. COVID-19 and boundary-crossing collaboration Laura G. Pedraza-Fariña; 4. Legal paradigms and the politics of global COVID-19 vaccine access Matthew M. Kavanagh and Renu Singh; Part II. Boosting Low-Income Countries' Capacities for Protecting Public Health: 5. Fostering production of pharmaceutical products in developing countries William Fisher, Ruth Okediji and Padmashree Gehl Sampath; 6. Patent philanthropy Haochen Sun; 7. Beyond traditional IP: addressing regulatory barriers Cynthia M. Ho; 8. Capability approach to developing global health initiatives for equitable access to vaccines Calvin WL Ho; Part III. Alternative Means of Fighting Pandemics: 9. Planning for pandemic and epidemic-related scarcity of medicines Sapna Kumar & Ana Santos Rutschman; 10. Improving global governance of pandemic response: lessons from COVID-19 Jayashree Watal; 11. Compelling trade secret sharing David S. Levine & Joshua D. Sarnoff; 12. Voluntary intellectual property pledges and COVID-19 Jorge L. Contreras; Part IV. Toward Dynamic Protection of Public Health in China, Africa and Latin America: 13. The TRIPS waiver and the global pandemic response Peter K. Yu, China; 14. COVID-19 exclusion, policy contagion, and colonial hangover in Africa Olufunmilayo Arewa; 15. Technology transfer for production of COVID-19 vaccines in Latin America Kenneth C. Shadlen.

Haochen Sun is Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong. Professor Sun specializes in intellectual property, technology law, and Chinese law. His opinions about intellectual property and technology law have appeared in media outlets such as BBC News, Forbes, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Madhavi Sunder is the Frank Sherry Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Professor Sunder is a widely published and influential scholar of intellectual property law, law and technology, women's human rights, and international development. She has been a Visiting Professor of Law at Yale Law School, the University of Chicago Law School, and Cornell Law School.