Solidarity as a Practical Craft: Cohesion and Cooperation in Leveraging Access to Medical Technologies within and Beyond the Trips Agreement

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented call for global solidarity that included a proposal to waive key obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The governance of intellectual property in a global health crisis entails consideration of the effective and coordinated agency of domestic governments to foster solidarity through practical action. This paper lays out the context for solidarity and considers its practical operation by focusing on the mechanism of interaction between the intellectual property system and access to medicines, historically and during the pandemic: authorization of the use of patented subject matter without right holders' consent.

Keywords: COVID-19, vaccines, public health, TRIPS Agreement, intellectual property

JEL Classification: O38, I14, H87