Hasanuddin University, Faculty of Law, held a guest lecture entitled “The TRIPS Waiver for Vaccine Patents” by Prof. Dr. Paul LC Torremans, Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the University of Nottingham, UK. The activity was carried out online via the Zoom platform on Thursday (10/20).
The public lecture was officially opened by the Deputy Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, Dr. Maskun, S.H., L.LM., and guided by Nilasari, SH, as the moderator, who is an alumnus of the Faculty of Law, Unhas, and LL.M. candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Nottingham, UK.
Prof. Dr. Paul LC Torremans began the public lecture by explaining the rationale for legal protection of patent rights. The obligation of legal protection for patent rights is regulated in Article 27 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS. It also describes the provision of voluntary licenses by patent holders under Article 31 of TRIPS, which has been practiced by Johnson & Johnson as a patent holder in South Africa.
The WTO Agreement, or the Marrakesh Agreement, in Article IX, Paragraph 3, Point a, regulates the waiver of multilateral trade agreement obligations for WTO member countries. Prof. Dr. Paul LC Torremans said that the waiver is a political process that needs a political decision.
The reasons for the importance of waivers for vaccine patents include increasing vaccine production and distribution. But there is also rejection of the waiver for vaccine patents due to the perspective that it is counterproductive in terms of innovation, trade secret issues, and limited raw materials.
After the presentation, the participants were given the opportunity to discuss and ask questions about the topic presented. This public lecture was attended by around 100 participants including lecturers and students.
Kumara Tungga Dewa, S.S.
