Biden’s Undermining Of U.S. Intellectual Property Rights Is Dangerous And Will Hurt Pandemic Response

Biden’s Undermining Of U.S. Intellectual Property Rights Is Dangerous And Will Hurt Pandemic Response

Share to Linkedin In an abrupt and unprecedented move, the Biden administration plans to strip intellectual property rights from American vaccine manufacturers. The administration completely reframed the debate on the pro IP waiver, originally petitioned last fall, by South Africa and India to the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council. The leading voice behind the Biden surrender on IP protection was U. S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who said, "The administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines." However, the intellectual property rights of innovators are not a barrier to the rapid acceleration of COVID-19 production the world needs. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the first world leader standing strongly against the Biden position. She said, "I made clear here already that I don't believe that releasing patents is the solution to provide vaccines for more people." EU leaders pushed back against the Biden move during the recent European Council summit in Oporto, Portugal. "On the intellectual property, we don't think in the short term that it's the magic bullet but we are ready to engage on this topic as