Today, the fight against the dangerous COVID-19 virus continues without slowing down. The war with this virus continues throughout the world. As this war continues, resources are consumed. As a result of this struggle, there is a need for medical equipment, equipment for diagnosis and treatment. The insufficiency of these materials puts hospitals and health institutions in a difficult situation.
The need for protective medical equipment is increasing every day, not only for patients but also for healthcare professionals. Doctors and nurses are putting their lives at risk to save patients caught with the COVID-19 case. Besides all of these, most of these vital materials are protected by patents.
Patents are the ability to compensate for the costs of an invention spent in the development phase and to control the competitive environment by preventing its commercial activities by other people with its license.
However, at times when public security is threatened, many governments can temporarily suspend these licenses for the public. Everyone is eagerly awaiting the decision of governments on whether to apply such a path for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many large companies have helped against the corona virus for the production of medical supplies needed primarily in this outbreak, such as a mask and respirator. Automotive companies such as General Motors, Ford, Tesla also stated that they want to support the production of the most needed medical supplies. In addition, cosmetics and fashion companies such as L’Oréal also offered help to produce disinfectants, hospital gown, mask and chemicals needed in this process. Even alcoholic beverage manufacturers have offered assistance to produce disinfectants.
Considered a candidate for drugs used in the treatment of COVID-19, AbbVie has suspended global patent rights for all formulations of HIV drug Kaletra. This behavior shows the firm's help for public health. This decision of the company enabled the drug to be used comfortably in the clinical studies without fear of patent infringement and assisted the clinics and laboratories investigating the treatment.
There are also events that are the opposite of the positive development mentioned above. It is claimed that a special valve used in respiratory machines in Italy has filed a patent lawsuit against engineers making production using the 3D printer we have mentioned in our previous article.
There is not much detail in the news on this subject, but the news mentions that the patentee refused to assist these volunteer engineers.