Research report 2021 - Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
Patent rights in times of the pandemic
Authors
Reto M. Hilty, Suelen Carls, Daria Kim
Departments
Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München
Summary
One of the biggest challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the provision of sufficient quantities of vaccine over months. While rich industrialised countries ordered huge quantities early on, poorer states suffered from a glaring shortage. Against this background, several of them have requested among other things the temporary suspension of patent rights at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Our team has analysed the legal situation.
