COVID-19 ‘Pledge’ Urges Rights Owners to Share IP

2020/04/01

In order to remove IP obstacles in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of scientists, lawyers and entrepreneurs have launched an initiative urging companies to free their IP.
The project, “Open COVID Pledge” was rolled-out yesterday, March 30, and invites IP owners to grant free and temporary licences to use their patent and copyright protected technology to end the pandemic.
“Under normal circumstances, patents and copyright incentivise innovation in the public and private sector,” said the project. “In this unique moment of global crisis, the costs of the exclusivity granted by our patent and copyright system far outweigh the benefits.”
According to the initiative, the risk of infringement liability and the process of negotiating licences will slow down or prevent investments in the research, scaling, and commercialisation of technologies needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Immediate action is required to halt the COVID-19 pandemic and treat those it has affected. It is a practical and moral imperative that every tool we have at our disposal be applied to develop and deploy technologies on a massive scale without impediment,” added the initiative.
 
Source: World IP Review