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Context

• Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL), the maker of Covaxin, India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, has acknowledged a mistake in its patent filings.
• They did not include scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as co-inventors, highlighting issues in how vaccine intellectual property rights (IPR) are managed.

Governance of Vaccine Patents

Types of Patents

• Product Patents: Grant monopoly rights over a specific drug or vaccine.
• Process Patents: Prevent competitors from replicating the production process.

Importance of Crediting Inventors

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

• Significance: Listing all inventors accurately is crucial for determining ownership and royalty distribution.
• Complexity of Collaboration: In pharmaceutical development, collaborations like BBIL-ICMR involve shared IPR, impacting product usage and revenue.

Legal Implications

• Patent Filings: Failure to list all inventors can lead to rejection of patent applications, particularly stringent in countries like the U.S.
• Resolution: BBIL committed to correcting the oversight by including ICMR scientists as inventors in new patent applications.

READ THIS ARTICLES:

Regulation needed for standard essential patents

https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/standard-essential-patents#:~:text=A%20patent%20is%20an%20exclusive,patented%20invention%20without%20their%20permission.

Patent

https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/patent

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. What regulatory measures are essential for governing standard essential patents (SEPs)? Discuss the challenges in ensuring fair licensing practices while fostering innovation and preventing monopolistic behavior in technological sectors.

SOURCE: THE HINDU