Automaker
But as companies help government fight the coronavirus pandemic in a potential World War II-style mobilization, they are venturing into a legal minefield over patents.
“I don’t want to be the jerk saying people shouldn’t do things to save people’s lives,” but potential contractors “should have eyes wide open,” said
There are more than 1,000 patents in the U.S. alone that mention the N95 standard used for respirators important to protect health-care workers from transmission, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among the owners of patents on respirators are the U.S. government,
Yet public pushback against lawsuits in a time of crisis can be swift.
Earlier this month, Labrador Diagnostic LLC, a patent-licensing firm owned by
Labrador later announced it would offer its patents royalty-free for any company developing a coronavirus test.
“I don’t know what else to do here to prove we weren’t aware of the Covid-19 testing plans,” he said. “We’re not Satan. We’re good human beings here, and still we’re being thrown under a freight train.”
President Donald Trump
Trump, in a tweet after signing the order, said he would invoke the act only as a “worst case scenario in the future,” but some Democrats are
Such orders, Mlinarchik said, “may cause short-term havoc for business relationships,” but “what company would be foolish enough to stain themselves with the long-term stigma of refusing to prioritize or allocate medical supplies during a national emergency and pandemic?”
Concerns that patent-infringement claims would deter contractors in a time of national emergency goes back more than a century. In April 1918, Acting Secretary of the Navy
As a result, federal law ensures that patent owners can’t block the use of any patented invention for something made on behalf of the government.
But it doesn’t stop them from pursuing royalty payments in lawsuits against the government at the
Pandemic Profits?
A recent trial in Delaware revealed how even tangential connections to the pandemic can roil legal teams.
The dire health situation can lead to an “act now, worry later” attitude. An Italian company used its 3-D printer to make copies of a needed valve for ventilators that was patented by another company. The original designer refused to release design files, so they had to be reverse-engineered, the Verge reported.
Citizen groups have been vocal in demanding that patents not get in the way of a vaccine or treatment being widely -- and cheaply -- available.
“We need to set aside outdated ideas about monopolies and exclusivities and focus on sharing knowledge and solidarity,”
Drugmakers are aware of the public relations issues. AbbVie
There are already hints that there may be patent fights over future drug treatments.
(Adds context from public interest group starting in 18th paragraph.)
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Elizabeth Wasserman, Steve Geimann
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