Toshiko Takenaka: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Intellectual Property Law Systems for Drug Discovery

October 19, 2022

Since the Master of Laws (LL.M) in Global Legal Practice was established at the Law School in April 2017, I have been in charge of the Intellectual Property Rights course every year through a cross-appointment with the University of Washington School of Law, where I hold tenure. All lectures are conducted in English, and the majority of students are international students. Since the 2020 academic year, all lectures for international students have moved online. Subsequently, while lectures for Japanese students gradually returned to in-person classes, online lectures continued for the Master of Laws (LL.M) in Global Legal Practice, and the 2022 academic year began with hybrid lectures.

The shift to online during the COVID-19 pandemic brought the disadvantage of making it difficult for students to participate actively in lectures, but for me, I feel the benefits were greater. It became easier to request lectures from scholars in the West, and it became possible to give presentations at overseas lectures and seminars from Tokyo.

Furthermore, it became easier to participate in Japanese government councils and meetings of various intellectual property organizations. The elimination of jet lag and evening social gatherings has also significantly contributed to a healthier lifestyle. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic brought many new research themes to intellectual property law. While patents are usually thought of as the right to exclude competitors, a global movement for "open patents" spread, where entities declared they would not exercise these rights for actions aimed at ending the pandemic, even against competitors. The U.S. government declared a waiver of patents for vaccines and treatments, and the suspension of intellectual property rights for vaccines was discussed at the G20 Summit, but a conclusion to open them was not reached due to opposition from developed countries holding numerous intellectual property rights.

On the other hand, international treaties and the intellectual property law systems of various countries already have systems for restricting the exercise of intellectual property rights during emergencies, leading some to question the need for special treatment specifically for COVID-19 vaccines. Since countless intellectual property rights are involved in development, there is also the issue of the extent to which they should be opened. Recently, incentives for drug discovery and the development of treatments have also been changing, and some economists point out that the patent system based on traditional incentives—recovering investment by selling new drugs at high prices through monopolies—is becoming outdated.

In this way, new technologies and social phenomena bring interesting themes to intellectual property researchers every year. Even after more than 30 years as a researcher, I can still approach new research themes with the fresh stimulation of a beginner.