Patents and Public Health: Principle, Politics and Paradox
Patents and Public Health: Principle, Politics and Paradox
British Academy Law Lecture
This lecture discusses how patent protection has been used in order to limit access to essential medicines. It considers how patents can be justified and shows how and why the ‘principle of balance’ has been subverted by the discourse of property rights. This principle lies at the heart of patent protection. The lecture concludes with a consideration of the Declaration on the TRIPs agreement and public health, which is also known as the Doha Declaration. It also presents an analysis of the inaction on the part of developing country governments, which have largely failed to take advantage of the breakthrough achieved at Doha.
Keywords: patent protection, essential medicines, justifying patents, principle of balance, property rights, Doha Declaration
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