Study of Compulsory Licensing-When Human Rights Meet Pharmaceutical Patents

• Main Authors: Yun-pu Tu, 杜芸璞
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/7655t9

碩士 === 國立臺灣科技大學 === 專利研究所 === 102 === Normally, people want to stay “healthy”, to live longer, to realize the goals set in each stages of life, or simply ask for more time spending with their love ones—“health” indeed plays big parts of our lives, which makes it no doubts that “Human Rights” contain the “Right to Health”. Yet, to maintain in healthy condition, sometimes only good living environment, balancing nutrition, or regular sports are not enough—people get sick or injury and need the help of medications or medical treatments, so, follow by the “Right to Health”, we need “Access to Medicines” to complete and supplement. However, “Property” is another basic “Human Right”. As “Intellectual Property” (“IP”) are also one kind of “Property”, the conflicts between “right to health/access to medicines” v. “IP rights” are not a trivial question; rather, something could be think more. In this thesis, I mainly discuss one of the conflict—the compulsory licensing in pharmaceutical patents, using the “Tamiflu case” in 2005, as a case analysis focusing on the issue of “National Emergency” under the TRIPS and Doha Declaration regarding to grant compulsory licensing. I believe in justice of human dignity is ought to be accessed to anyone regardless poor or wealth—while the pharmaceutical patents sustain the high price level of drugs, proper compulsory licensing may help to change into affordable prices. With law belongs to humanities, we should seek for the values that are really functional to the society, rather than simply resort to logical deduction or cost-benefit analysis. I long to explore deeper so as to seek the justice behind all the knowledge I’ve known up till now to support the IP policy, meanwhile, taking care of the right to health and access to medicines. By comparative research to facility international perspective with literature analysis of paper works, as well as entering conferences and workshop to collect the idea and feedbacks, I deal with the justice and legitimacy of compulsory licensing in pharmaceutical patents; and finally, reach the conclusion and recommendation that to reform the R.O.C. IP law to cover more choices of granting compulsory licensing or trying the resort to “Public Use” or “National Use” under different level of needs.