International Patent Law Conflicts With the Right of Access to Medicines and Healthcare: Key Aspects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46991/BYSU:C/2023.14.2.131Keywords:
access to medicines, public health, TRIPS agreement, pharmaceutical patent disputes, Doha Declaration, compulsory licensing, foreign investment, patent lawAbstract
This article is dedicated to the legal conflicts between international patent law and the right of
access to medicines and healthcare. This article discusses the problem above under the light of
the framework of the international agreements, mainly WTO Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) and Doha Declaration on the TRIPS
agreement and public health. As we know, patents give exclusive rights to the inventors to use
their innovations for a long period of time. This limits the ability of public to get easy access to
medications, consequently to indispensable healthcare. It is undoubtable that the quality of life
and the healthcare of the public is an absolute priority. On the contrary, the expropriation of
patent rights, inadequate compensation of damages for issuing the compulsory licensing may
have irreversible consequences for the states. Foreign investor may file claims against the
governmental authorities to ad hoc or permanent arbitral institutions.
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