[IRTalk] FW: Statement: President Biden Endorses Waiver of All IP for COVID in WTO TRIPS Waiver

[Leti Kleyn]

*From:* Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property <
pijip at wcl.american.edu>
*Sent:* Wednesday, May 5, 2021 11:47 PM
*To:* Leti Kleyn <leti.kleyn at up.ac.za>
*Subject:* Statement: President Biden Endorses Waiver of All IP for COVID
in WTO TRIPS Waiver



More than 250 organizations and experts organizations called for the
temporary reduction of copyright barriers to COVID-19 prevention,
containment and treatment



*PRESS RELEASE: MAY 5, 2021*



*CONTACT:*

*Professor Sean Flynn*

202-294-5749 sflynn at wcl.american.edu <sflynn at wcl.american.edu>@Sean_Fiil_Flynn




*American University Program on Information Justice and Intellectual
Property*

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Educators, Libraries & Researchers Praise President Biden for Endorsing
Waiver of All IP for COVID in WTO TRIPS Waiver

*More than 250 organizations and experts organizations called for the
temporary reduction of copyright barriers to COVID-19 prevention,
containment and treatment*

*Washington, D.C.* - Today educators, researchers, libraries, academics and
other advocates praised President Biden, USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai and
the Administration for formally supporting the WTO TRIPS waiver, including
for copyright.

*“By supporting a waiver of ‘intellectual property for COVID-19 vaccines,’
not just of patents, the statement would presumably extend, for example, to
the copyright protection that can exist on computational algorithms needed
to produce mRNA vaccines. It is less clear whether the Administration’s
support extends to access to copyright for other needed activities, such as
to repair software enabled devices or to enable text and data mining
research. Clearly, however, this is a great advance for the cause of
ensuring that intellectual property bends to the public interest, not the
other way around.”* said Sean Flynn, Director of American University’s
Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property.

Last month, over 250 research and education organizations around the world
called <http://go2.mailengine1.com/click/fof6-2e56io-41hq2q-f30bxtq0/> on
the WTO to endorse a TRIPS waiver extending to copyright to prevent and
treat COVID-19. Representing over 30 million global teachers and 1,500
libraries and research institutions, the groups pointed to the importance
of access to copyrighted works to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, the
Biden administration endorsed the thrust of that statement -- supporting a
waiver of all “intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines,”
not only of patents.

Other supporters of the TRIPS waiver emphasized the need for emergency
measures to overcome copyright barriers in the COVID-19 pandemic:

*“The global health crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has
highlighted the deep imbalances of the WTO’s intellectual property IP rules
enshrined in the TRIPS agreement. At Creative Commons, we believe
international copyright rules should not stand in the way of accessing and
sharing knowledge to help fight the pandemic; instead they should provide
equitable access and use of essential materials in remote educational,
learning and research activities; virtual access and use of library
collections; and research on treatments using advanced processes such as
text and data mining. We also believe the international IP system should
enable broad and early public access to medicines, treatments and vaccines.
We thus call on WTO members to endorse the TRIPS waiver proposal and to act
urgently to guide countries in addressing copyright barriers to access to
knowledge to uphold fundamental rights and the public interest,”* explained
Catherine Stihler, CEO of Creative Commons.

*“In establishing just how productive and beneficial the free and open
sharing of research and related discoveries can be, the concerted effort to
make the science on COVID-19 as widely available as possible has had a
remarkable global impact. Open science is alleviating suffering and saving
lives. It is advancing research. Up to this point, the openness of
pandemic-related research is largely the result of concerned researchers
and responsible scholarly publishers responding to a health crisis of
planetary dimensions. Now is the time for WTO to formally, if temporarily,
suspend the applications of its rules on intellectual property when it
comes to efforts at preventing, containing and treating COVID-19,”* said
John Willinsky, Khosla Family Professor of Education, Stanford University,
and Director of the Public Knowledge Project, which produces open source
software in support of open access to research.

*“Access to copyrighted works, in addition to patents, industrial designs,
regulatory data, and trade secrets, including manufacturing know-how,
proprietary formulas, and biologic resources, is needed to prevent and
contain COVID-19 and to develop treatments. Copyright protection on
software, industrial blueprints, production manuals, and other creative
works are increasingly embedded in diagnostic and other medical devices and
in COVID-related digital-health technologies. Suspending such copyright
protection can result in more immediate production of existing and new
COVID health products,"* explained Brook Baker, Senior Policy Analyst,
Global Health Access Project and Professor of Law, Northeastern University
School of Law.

*"During the pandemic, there have been copyright claims regarding 3D
printing of medical devices, and library and school shutdowns that created
an unanticipated need to rely upon online access to learning and research
tools, under controlled digital lending systems. In each of these cases,
copyright exceptions are quite important, including those appropriate for
this type of emergency,” *said James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology
International, who recently wrote on the crucial link between know-how and
the scale up of production of vaccines.

*“The barriers to entry for developing COVID-19 treatments, vaccines,
diagnostics, and other interventions include copyright law, which restricts
access to information for scientists and public health researchers alike.
As an organization of university students, we are deeply concerned with the
ability of academics to access the information they need to innovate, and
the ability of researchers to share their work and collaborate without
restriction. In the interest of the university communities which have
stepped up to this global challenge, we call for WTO member countries to
prioritize public health and lift copyright barriers to COVID-19 research,”
*stated Navya Dasari, a current NYU Law student and Coordinating Committee
member of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines.

*“COVID-19 and the lockdown have meant that libraries were not available to
the public to access print and digital services. Although all library
resources are acquired and distributed legally, converting print resources
would violate many copyright laws around the world. Likewise, transmitting
copyright content in other formats such as reading a book aloud over Zoom
would potentially infringe on the relevant copyright laws. Many libraries
needed to do exactly that but could not avoid breaking the law,”* said Dick
Kawooya, Associate Professor, School of Information Science, University of
South Carolina.

*“Libraries of all types - both through their collections and their
services - play a key role both in mitigating the impacts of the pandemic,
and in accelerating efforts to bring it to an end. While definitively
enabling them to carry out their missions across borders and in a digital
world will require longer term international legal action, the situation
faced today requires emergency measures in order to enable the
interdisciplinary work needed to understand the pandemic in all its
dimensions, and to enable the continuation of education, research and
cultural participation,” *said Stephen Wyber, Manager, Policy and Advocacy,
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

*"Whether the focus is on remote education, software adaptation, text and
data mining or machine learning, flexibilities in copyright law go hand in
hand with other adjustments that we need to make to the intellectual
property system to help combat COVID-19. The removal of pressure and
constraints from the International trade regime will go a long way to
helping countries maximize their policy space to develop appropriate
pandemic responses that are sensitive to local conditions,” *explained
Peter K. Yu, Regents Professor of Law and Communication and Director,
Center for Law and Intellectual Property, Texas A&M University:

*“The United States' punishing enforcement of intellectual property rules
through trade threats has created a culture of fear that, even during a
global pandemic, is interfering with our ability to save lives,”* said
Fight for the Future’s Lia Holland.

*“Copyright and other intellectual property law must serve the public
interest. Right now, at a minimum they must not stand in the way of how
people adapt to challenging circumstances. Granting the TRIPS waiver
proposal will be an important step toward the creation of an intellectual
property system that allows the globe to best respond to challenges such as
the COVID pandemic,”* said John Bergmayer with Public Knowledge.









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