Patent pools:
Two or more companies create a patent pool for cross-licensing their patents within a similar technical field. The companies can also provide pooled patents for licensing to third parties. The income generated from the licensing is shared between the patent pool members based on the pool’s terms and conditions. Generally, patents can be of two types, substitutes and complements. Alternatives are patents working on an identical product achieved through different paths, wherein both the subjects do not infringe upon one another. Supplements are patents working for various features of the same product. Complementary patents have a higher chance of infringement upon each other and, when combined together, bring an enhanced result of the product. Therefore, the pooling of complementary patents helps prevent infringement and improve the invention’s efficiency.
Advantages:
The creation of patent pools provides a platform for placing all closely related patents under one roof. Many companies can obtain licenses from these patent pools, manufacture the products at a faster rate, and market them at an affordable price. The cost of research for companies to develop patents is reduced. Also, companies and institutes can save time by working on already available technology and focusing on developing advanced innovations.
Existing patent pools:
Patent pools exist around the world in the biotechnology and telecom industry fields.
In medicine, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a United Nations-backed public health organization, is working to develop affordable life-saving drugs for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Hepatitis-C. Patent holding companies can license their patents to the MPP, which in turn sub-licenses these patents to generic drug manufacturers for manufacturing the drugs at an affordable rate. As mentioned on the website, the Medicines Patent Pool has temporarily expanded its mandate to include any health technology that helps combat COVID-19.
Patent pools for COVID-19:
The Presidents of Costa Rica and Chile and the WHO recently announced a technological platform to be launched on 29th May 2020, wherein “the platform will pool data, knowledge and intellectual property for existing or new COVID-19 health products to deliver ‘global public goods’ for all people and all countries. Through the open sharing of science and data, numerous companies can access the information they need to produce the technologies, thereby scaling up availability worldwide, lowering costs, and increasing access.”
The platform’s launch will enable the pooling of knowledge, including patents for affordable access to medicines for COVID-19, to people worldwide.
The 73rd World Health Assembly held on 18th May 2020, attended by every nation around the world, proposed draft resolutions for action against the COVID-19 pandemic, including to “Work collaboratively at all levels to develop, test, and scale-up production of safe, effective, quality, affordable diagnostics, therapeutics, medicines and vaccines for the COVID-19 response, including, existing mechanisms for voluntary pooling and licensing of patents to facilitate timely, equitable and affordable access to them, consistent with the provisions of relevant international treaties including the provisions of the TRIPS agreement and the flexibilities as confirmed by the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health“.
The above initiatives taken by leaders worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic ensure the availability of medicines to every nation through voluntary licensing and pooling patents.
Conclusion:
In the present pandemic situation, where research institutions and companies are in a race to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus, the constitution of a patent pool is required to minimize monopoly and better reach of medicines. Medical research institutes in various countries invest vast amounts in developing and patenting a vaccine at the earliest. Such patents working towards the treatment of COVID-19 can be pooled together, enabling the companies in the pool to provide licenses for their inventions at a reasonable price. The patents licensed from these pools will facilitate faster manufacturing at a higher production rate and lower cost. Types of equipment, drugs, or any other diagnostic technology can be supplied to people across boundaries at an affordable price. Also, in the Indian scenario, the Indian Patents Act 1970 does not disclose any deterrents not allowing the creation of patent pools. Thus, the exchange of innovative inter-related patents between companies and manufacturers through patent pools can help bring an improved, affordable solution to eradicate COVID-19 at the earliest.
