We repeat today in the print edition of our newspaper an article titled “How Joe Biden could vaccinate the world” reproduced from a U.S. publication, The Week for the benefit of those of our readers who may not have read the epaper we were compelled to limit ourselves to last Sunday on account of the Covid restrictions. Given the scale of the devastation this fast-spreading virus has caused on this planet, mankind is necessarily focused on all matters relating to the pandemic. Thus, together with people the world over who cheered President Biden’s recent election, most Lankans silently applaud the new American leader’s support for a waiver of patent rights on corona vaccines. Ryan Cooper, the popular columnist who wrote the article under reference said that Biden surprised the world by his administration favouring the intellectual property waiver requested by India and South Africa.
By Ryan Cooper
President Biden surprised the world when his administration came out in favour of an intellectual property waiver for coronavirus vaccines. The US is now backing an effort from India and South Africa to get a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the intent of expanding global vaccine production.
But it isn’t going to be that easy. Germany’s Angela Merkel has already come out against a waiver (one of the key vaccine firms, BioNTech, is based there), which could doom the effort because the WTO requires consensus. Luckily, there are other steps that Biden could take to accelerate vaccine production and distribution, which as we see in the ongoing viral conflagration happening in India, is absolutely vital. If the international community can’t get behind vaccinating the world, Biden should go it alone.
The agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or TRIPS came into effect in January 1995. It is a multilateral agreement on intellectual property (IP) rights such as copyright, industrial designs, patents and protection of undisclosed information or trade secrets.
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The UAE has been taken off the US intellectual property protection (IPP) watchlist following campaigns to tackle the sale of counterfeit goods.
The decision was made by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
In April, Dubai Customs seized and recycled counterfeit goods worth Dh1 million ($272,000), including designer bags, watches, gloves and glasses.
More than 300,000 bogus filters, spark plugs and other engine parts were seized by officials in 2020.
It is our intention to build on this positive result and continue to strengthen and reinforce rigorous IPP rights across the UAE
Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Minister of State
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