Indonesia’s strong hands on waiving IP barriers to medical inventions
The Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a major blow to the economies of the world, resulting in the loss of trillions and trillions of USD. Indonesia has also seen such a heavy impact and therefore, this country has decided to play its strong card towards Covid-19 and the protection of human life affected by medical reasons. On the IP front, during the recent G20 Summit, Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared that an intellectual property waiver for all medical solutions, including diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, “must be broadened”.
According to Mr. Joko Widodo, the Indonesian President, the Covid-19 pandemic is a warning to future health dangers that must be addressed at this very moment.
If another pandemic occurs and the world reacted slowly to the virus due to the IP barriers like what we are experiencing with the Covid-19 virus, the life of humankind might be in serious danger if the new virus appears to be deadlier than Covid-19 like Ebola.
Consequently, following Mr. Widodo’s perspective, world organizations should make plans to waiver IP barriers for vaccines as well as drugs and other medical equipment to fight against a deadly virus, without the consent of the manufacturer but their interest must also be protected to create motivation.
Currently, the Covid-19 vaccine waiver has been passed through, allowing developing countries and under-developing countries to manufacture vaccines without IP barriers in 5 years, provided that they have the technology, resources as well as infrastructure to produce such a high volume of medical necessity, which is unlikely.
According to the President of Indonesia, the time limit of the waiver should be extended to allow the countries to adapt, and make real changes. With the current time limit, the waiver of the Covid-19 IP barriers seems just to be a photo op for Moderna, Pfizer, and other multi-billion health companies, along with the fact that they agree to negotiate when the Covid-19 has relatively been controlled, not in critical condition like back in 2020.
Expert opinions
Gunawan Suryomurcito, a consultant at Rouse Consulting International in Indonesia commented on the statement of Mr. Widodo: “In general, I agree with President Widodo on IP Waiver on the patent of inventions related to vaccines and essential medicines for highly contagious diseases and in case of emergency like Covid-19, but in particular I do not agree with the widening of the waiver which is without time limit.”
He adds, “I am of the idea that there is a misconception regarding the need to widen IP waivers in Indonesia when health is concerned because there is an exception of patentable inventions in the Indonesian Patent Law (Art. 9 b. Law No. 13 of 2016). Diagnostic and therapeutic inventions are not patentable. Therefore, no need to widen the IP waiver on health issues.”
*** Other Articles***
– You could visit here to see 05 Legal Notes About Trademark In Indonesia – Indonesia Trademark Law
– You could visit here to check the Trademark Registration in Indonesia.
– You could check the Procedure of Trademark in Indonesia here.
– You can also check the Required documents of filing trademark in Indonesia
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