International Law

Obama Admin and Compulsory Licensing in China

By Stan

This issue comes up every now and then. Several laws in China, including the Anti-monopoly Law and the Patent Law, allow for compulsory licensing of IP. This essentially means that under certain circumstances, the government may grant a third party a patent license even without the approval of the IP owner.

Internationally, this has led to big-time fighting between IP owners (mostly the MNC pharmaceutical companies) and third world countries/NGOs. This usually happens when there is a public health emergency (e.g. AIDS) and a lack of certain meds at “reasonable” prices.

Traditionally, the U.S. has carried water for the pharma companies, even going so far as to file suit with them as interested parties. When new laws are envisioned (e.g. the recent Patent Law amendments in China), the U.S. government position has been to push for weaker compulsory licensing language.

So what would the Obama Administration do if faced with this sort of issue?
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Full post as published by China Hearsay on August 21, 2009 (boomark / email).