ABSTRACT
This study discusses the development of the intellectual property (IP) marketplace model based on mobile location-aware computing. Referring to statistics released by the Directorate General of Intellectual Property, there has been a growth in the number of intellectual property rights (IPR) applications in recent years, even during the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other hand, after IPR protection, the commercialization of IPR is one of the pillars of the IP system. Nevertheless, research institutions such as LIPI/BRIN indicate that the potential for commercializing IPR is still low. Furthermore, the opportunity is that cellular networks have covered almost all parts of Indonesia, and there has been significant growth in smartphone users. The method utilized in this research is prototyping. This research results from an IP marketplace model based on mobile location-aware computing in Indonesia. Using the smartphone user's location, contextual IPR information from the user's location related to IPR will enter their smartphone. The experimental results indicate that the application can display a list of IPR information according to the smartphone user's location. Furthermore, the search feature can forage IPR listing information based on user queries. © 2022 IEEE.
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This paper investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on shareholders' wealth during market downturn, focusing on the market crash caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermaths. We evaluate the relationship between firms' CSR and stock returns using a sample of 803 firms listed on the Korean stock market. The results of our study reveal that firms' pre-crisis CSR activities do not protect shareholders' wealth during the crisis;in fact, they negatively affected stock returns during the COVID-19 crisis. This finding is consistent across several robustness tests and challenges the prevailing notion that CSR is solely a philanthropic endeavor. This study suggests that firms need to reconsider their CSR approach in order to better align it with shareholders' interest.
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This article uses data from several publicly available databases to show that the distribution of intellectual property for frontier technologies, including those useful for sustainable development, is very highly skewed in favor of a handful of developed countries. The intellectual property rights (IPR) regime as it exists does not optimize the global flow of technology and know-how for the attainment of the sustainable development goals and is in need of updating. Some features of the Fourth Industrial Revolution imply that the current system of patents is even more in need of reform than before. COVID-19 vaccines and therapies and the vast inequality in access to these has highlighted the costs of inaction. We recommend several policy changes for the international IPR regime. Broadly, these fall into three categories: allowing greater flexibility for developing countries, reassessing the appropriateness of patents for technologies that may be considered public goods, and closing loopholes that allow for unreasonable intellectual property protections.
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The right to property is part of International Human Rights Law (IHRL). However, the right is conspicuously missing from some fundamental treaties, and there are important inconsistencies in its interpretation by regional and global human rights bodies. In light of the indeterminacy and polysemy of IHRL in relation to property, this paper articulates a proposal to rethink this right taking Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR) seriously. The proposal contains four propositions. Firstly, property is a human right. Secondly, it includes private property as one of its forms, but this is not the only one. Thirdly, property has a social function. And fourthly, as a matter of proportionality, fulfilling ESCR is one of the most important objectives that may justify the limitation of private property.
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Advances in digital neuroimaging technologies, i.e., MRI and CT scan technology, have radically changed illness diagnosis in the global healthcare system. Digital imaging technologies produce NIfTI images after scanning the patient's body. COVID-19 spared on a worldwide effort to detect the lung infection. CT scans have been performed on billions of COVID-19 patients in recent years, resulting in a massive amount of NIfTI images being produced and communicated over the internet for diagnosis. The dissemination of these medical photographs over the internet has resulted in a significant problem for the healthcare system to maintain its integrity, protect its intellectual property rights, and address other ethical considerations. Another significant issue is how radiologists recognize tempered medical images, sometimes leading to the wrong diagnosis. Thus, the healthcare system requires a robust and reliable watermarking method for these images. Several image watermarking approaches for .jpg, .dcm, .png, .bmp, and other image formats have been developed, but no substantial contribution to NIfTI images (.nii format) has been made. This research suggests a hybrid watermarking method for NIfTI images that employs Slantlet Transform (SLT), Lifting Wavelet Transform (LWT), and Arnold Cat Map. The suggested technique performed well against various attacks. Compared to earlier approaches, the results show that this method is more robust and invisible.
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Believing that space pharmaceuticals might be the key to winning the battle against COVID-19, global pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca and Sanofi Pasteur are currently collaborating with the International Space Station National Laboratory (ISS-NL) on research projects aiming to develop vaccine-and-immunotherapy products. The present legal regime for outer space, however, does not provide clear guidelines on safeguarding intellectual property rights (IPRs), due to the difficulties of reconciling the territorial nature of patent law and the nonterritorial nature of space law. Responding to such a legal gap, this research paper argues how pharmaceutical companies can protect such medical innovations by taking into consideration the international principles of space law addressing IPRs and extraterrestrial jurisdiction, as well as the legal regime of the ISS-NL. With the exception of the possibility of the barriers between the two areas of law not being insurmountable, the proposed COVID-19 TRIPS Waiver furthermore impacts space pharmaceuticals' IPRs and commercialization, which leads to the identification of some advantageous forms of agreements, including the Joint Endeavor Agreement, the Space Act Agreement, as well as the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, for pharmaceutical companies defined as agreement partners with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Based on a case study in each country, this study documents the views of Mozambican and Tanzanian smallholders regarding Chinese agricultural investments and the extent to which investors abide by their legitimate land tenure rights as defined by the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries in the Context of National Food Security (VGGTs). The VGGTs offer guidelines to government on how to protect the land tenure of rural communities when land is being acquired for large-scale land investments. The study also assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smallholders. Due to COVID-19, instead of fieldwork, we conducted telephone interviews with 20 smallholders in Mozambique and 35 in Tanzania. The Mozambican case showed that even when land set aside for investors was not in dispute, smallholders still had unmet expectations, especially regarding investors' corporate social responsibility activities. In the Tanzanian case, even though the land leased by the Chinese investor had been designated as general land, it had laid fallow for a long period, and smallholders had moved back onto the land, only to be displaced in 2017. Although smallholders' views on the investment were mixed, the case underscored the need for government to assess current land use before allocating it to investors - regardless of how the land is classified and especially in areas where land shortages are creating conflict. The cases show that even if communities are consulted about proposed land investments, guidelines need to include clauses that allow for ongoing communications between investors, communities and government officials such that if communities are unsatisfied with the results of the investment, renegotiation is possible. Further, in the event of crises, such as COVID-19, investors should partner with communities and government to limit the extent of harm in communities as a result of the crisis.
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Unequal access to vaccines for the Covid‐19 pandemic, also referred to as "vaccine apartheid,” has marginalized low‐income countries again. In October 2020, India and South Africa proposed a temporary waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the prevention of Covid‐19 at the World Trade Organization (WTO). An agreement was later reached in Geneva on June 17, 2022. The objective of this article is to analyze the negotiation and agreement reached at the WTO. This article explores the difficulties of creating international public good in the field of public health within the milieu of powerful actors, namely big pharmaceutical companies with vested interests. The central argument of this article is that this agreement alone will not solve the vaccine access problem for low‐income countries. It is too restrictive, does not cover trade secrets and know‐how, production capacity, availability of raw materials, and even adds new limitations that did not exist before. The best option to promote the production of quality vaccines in low‐income countries is to share technology and know‐how on a voluntary basis through production agreements. One way to facilitate the cooperation of large pharmaceutical corporation is to make it easier for low‐income countries to use compulsory licenses. Simplifying the use of this mechanism could help encourage pharmaceutical companies to enter into voluntary licensing agreements. © 2023 by the author(s);licensee Cogitatio Press (Lisbon, Portugal).
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Global disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines have brought back into focus questions about whether the right to medicines has assumed any level of binding legality within international law. In this paper, we attempt to answer this question by considering if there is evidence of subsequent state agreement and practice to read the right to medicines into the rights to health and science protected in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. We adopt the interpretive framework in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the International Law Commission's 2018 report to analyze the work of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights relevant to medicines, and its relationship to the content and voting in successive resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly. We find that these resolutions provide some evidence of state agreement that the rights to health and science, as enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, include access to affordable medicines. Yet the legal implications of this right remain highly contested, particularly when it comes to trade-related intellectual property rights. The negotiation of a pandemic treaty offers possibilities for codifying this right beyond these discursive instances, while political opposition remains likely to continue to undercut this emerging legal norm.
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This chapter examines inequalities in income, wealth, and health in the United Kingdom (UK) prior to Covid-19, focusing on class, gender;and race. It shows how these inequalities have intensified during the pandemic and discusses ways in which these inequalities could be reduced through alternative economic strategies put forward by feminist economists. Central to these strategies is public investment in care services. The chapter argues for going beyond this to make the whole economy a caring economy in which we give priority to care for one another and the planet in the ways in which we produce and consume all goods and services. Eight steps towards bringing this about are set out, steps which can be strengthened by redressing the imbalance between the commercial property rights of corporations and rentiers and the economic and social rights of disadvantaged people. © The several contributors 2022. All rights reserved.
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The Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19, pandemic has transpired disastrous effects in the world in multiple forms ranging from the high death tolls to the steep fall in global economy. Even so, it had managed to provide a silver lining in the form of unanimity of researchers from several disciplines, who united to contribute blood, sweat and tears to present to the world the miracle of science-vaccines. One can only imagine the extent of investment which has gone into development of the few vaccines we have today. In fact the research continues to be in full swing, with the hope and zest to better. While every country fights the pandemic with vigor, it is the pharmaceutical R&D which is expected of breakthrough discoveries as a solution. Where the pressure to succeed is tremendous, millions invested and no option to fail is it not justified to expect and deserve patent for the same. This paper will dwell into the justification of patent over Covid-19 vaccines, the ongoing debate over patent waiver and analyze whether the waiver will in fact facilitate greater access and affordability of vaccines or prove to be an impediment for global supply. © 2022, National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research. All rights reserved.
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In the United States today, adults live in a variety of nonmarital relationships and situations, ranging from committed partners who cohabit, to people who cohabit with differing levels of commitment,1 to committed partners who live apart. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of these relationship forms differently. The coming years will reveal the extent to which these impacts will alter the social and legal landscape around nonmarital relationships. These relationships have produced a range of responses in both existing law and law reform efforts. Meanwhile, scholars from various disciplines are studying nonmarital relationships, including polyamorous arrangements and other communities of choice. The Uniform Law Commission has developed a new proposal for uniformity in this area that addresses property rights and equitable claims, but not the many other legal rights and obligations that might accrue. Although the resolution of property disputes between nonmarital partners remains a critical concern, scholars have become interested in exploring the availability of other types of legal rights and the impact of demographic variations that the law has previously overlooked or oversimplified. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we explore the strategies utilized by civil society organizations to improve access to medicines during the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 health crises. In particular, we seek to illuminate why some of the successful approaches for increasing access to antiretrovirals for HIV/AIDS in the early 2000s failed in creating equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines. While civil society has historically mobilized human rights to facilitate greater access to essential medicines, we argue that earlier strategies were not always sustainable and that civil society is now mobilizing human rights in radically different ways than previously. Instead of focusing chiefly on securing an intellectual property waiver to the TRIPS Agreement, civil society organizations are now challenging vaccine injustice, rejecting the "charity discourse" that fuels Global South dependency on Global North actors in favor of scaling up manufacture in low- and middle-income countries, and moving to embed the right to access medicines in a new World Health Organization pandemic treaty with civil society organization participation and meaningful representation from low- and middle-income countries. Such approaches, we contend, will lead to more sustainable solutions in order to avert further health care disasters, like those seen with two distinct but related struggles-the fights for equitable access to essential medicines for HIV/AIDS and for COVID-19.
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Purpose: Because of the globalization of the knowledge economy, intellectual property (IP) rights have become an important tool for maintaining market leadership and controlling emerging market shares. This paper aims to identify the IP risks that China's strategic emerging industries face in the process of knowledge management in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era seeking to minimize these risks and reduce unnecessary losses. Design/methodology/approach: Based on an analysis of the current situation in China's strategic emerging industries, this paper qualitatively organizes the various types of IP risks faced by China's strategic emerging industries in their development with knowledge creation, knowledge transfer and knowledge application. This paper further analyzes the factors triggering the risks and proposes endogenous and exogenous IP risk-prevention strategies for China's strategic emerging industries from the perspective of knowledge management. Findings: Adopting a knowledge management perspective, this paper identifies three main intellectual property risks in the knowledge creation, transfer, application processes of knowledge management for China's emerging industries, including infringement risks related to independent innovation, leakage risks related to international cooperation and ownership risks related to technology transfer. Research limitations/implications: Based on the entire technology–product–application process and from a knowledge management perspective, the IP risks in the development of China's strategic emerging industries are comprehensively elaborated in this paper, providing a theoretical basis for avoiding IP risks that is also widely applicable to other knowledge-intensive industries. Originality/value: This paper explicates the IP risk faced by China's strategic emerging industries in each step of the knowledge management process and suggestions from knowledge management strategy, tools and implementation support mechanism holds promise for business, industry and government IP risk prevention are elaborated specially to promote the development of China's strategic emerging industries. On the one hand, this paper expanded the research on knowledge management by exploring the relationship between knowledge management and intellectual property rights variables. On the other hand, the findings have practical significance for the stable, long term and efficient development of strategic emerging industries in China as well as other knowledge-intensive industries. Empirical analyses on this subject are suggested for future studies. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Purpose: Several countries, such as South Africa and India, believe that intellectual property rights (IPRs), including patents, impede the efficient increase in vaccine production to inoculate the global population as they scramble to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Their proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive these pharmaceutical patents has been met with resistance from a few developed countries, who believe that the abrogation of IPRs is unnecessary, even during a pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of a potential waiver of medical patents at the WTO versus the status quo of IPR laws in the global economy. Design/methodology/approach: This study examines key arguments from economic and moral standpoints regarding the provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement and other related international agreements and their validity based on the premise of the internalisation of positive externalities posed by vaccines. Findings: The effectiveness of the TRIPS agreement in securing medical access is weak on account of the ability of profit-making multinationals to secure IP rights and on account of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral agreement that supports patent evergreening and a period of protection on test data which challenges the access to medicines and the fundamental human right to health. Originality/value: This study examines international IPRs through the lens of human rights and proposes a new system that balances the two. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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This article assesses the arguments and challenges that are likely to arise should investors file an investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) claim over measures taken in response to a waiver of obligations relating to intellectual property rights (IPRs) under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). After providing an overview of the proposed waiver of IPRs for COVID-19 vaccinations and treatments, it examines the jurisprudence relating to IP and investor-State arbitration and the grounds upon which investors would rely to make a case in ISDS and possible State defences. The analysis, which focuses on fair and equitable treatment and expropriation, concludes that it will be difficult for investors to succeed in claiming that measures taken in response to a TRIPS waiver of IPRs breach any substantive protection provision contained in an international investment agreement. States should, however, seek additional security by revisiting existing treaties and adding additional layers of safeguards to ensure legitimate and non-discriminatory measures taken in response to a TRIPS waiver do not lead to investor claims.
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The impact of for-profit pharmaceutical firms and charitable organizations on world health policy has been made clear by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite criticism from poor nations and rising opposition from influential players in wealthy countries, private actors have been able to uphold the norm of intellectual property rights. This article looks at how private actors have used their financial resources, subject matter expertise, and discursive influence to defy government directives. In order to lessen biased public health outcomes, it explores the effects of their expanding influence on global governance on public health and makes some policy suggestions. During the COVID-19 epidemic, private businesses and charitable groups have been instrumental in advancing intellectual property rights. Private actors are better positioned to influence public opinion and the global health agenda thanks to their massive monetary resources, capacity for rapid mobilization, state-of-the-art technological know-how, and public relations prowess that far outpace public health institutions. Without adequate checks and balances, the rising power of private players not only results in the for-profit corporations serving as the primary norm-setters in the global health ecosystem, but it also increases inequalities across nations.
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There are various challenges that must be overcome before the COVID-19 epidemic may be contained on a worldwide scale. The protection of one's intellectual property is of the utmost importance. Instead of ultimately addressing this issue in the current health emergency, many actors in industry and politics are persistently refusing to accept any modification of patent rights. This is despite the fact that the issue is a public health emergency. This article discusses the role that patents play in the health care industry and how they have become a barrier to the widespread protection of public health during a pandemic emergency, particularly in the development of vaccines.
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This article seeks to explain the dynamics of resource depletion in North Korea’s fishery. We utilize insights from the common-pool resource (CPR) literature and show how theories from comparative politics that explain why states sometimes do not formalize property rights but prefer their informal exercise can be fruitfully applied to North Korea’s fishery. Utilizing a process tracing methodology, we demonstrate that the North Korean state possesses the necessary capacity to limit resource depletion, but has largely failed to do so. We argue that broad access to the commons maintains relations of enmeshed dependence between the dictator and those utilizing the fishery, balancing regime social control concerns with the party-state’s need for revenue. Further, in recent times, foreign actors have been allowed into the sector, providing a lucrative source of revenue without creating issues for internal control. We consider the alternative explanation that the North Korean state lacks the capacity to prevent CPR depletion, but demonstrate its implausibility given the preponderance of available evidence, not least the response of the regime in Pyongyang to the COVID-19 pandemic, where it has demonstrated considerable capacity to control the country’s fishing fleet.