Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2010
This article critiques the subject of patent protection of drugs in the light of the threat posed by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. It contends that the basis for sustaining the prevailing international patent system in developing countries is a “myth”: one of deception. This “myth” is validated by highlighting the dysfunctions associated with the prevailing international patent system. The article proposes the adoption of diverse patent systems that would suit the cultural and human development needs of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Such diversity implies a drug patent model that meets human needs and shows respect for communal interests, a model that permits differences and is amenable to change in the light of socio-economic needs, a model that confronts “unfreedoms” which constrain human development, and a model that ensures respect and protection for the fundamental right to health care.
1 See Tumwine-Mukubwa, G “Patents and technology transfer to underdeveloped countries” (1975–77) 7–9 Zambia Law Journal 1Google Scholar; Gold, ER et al “The unexamined assumptions of intellectual property: Adopting an evaluative approach to patenting biotechnological innovation” (2004) 18/4 Public Affairs Quarterly 299Google Scholar; Correa, CReview of the TRIPS Agreement: Fostering the Transfer of Technology to Developing Countries (2001, TWN)Google Scholar.
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3 See Rai, RK “Effects of the TRIPS-mandated intellectual property rights on foreign direct investment in developing countries: A case study of the Indian pharmaceutical industry” (2009) 11 Journal of World Intellectual Property 404CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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5 Paul Martin, then Canada's finance minister said, in his budget speech on 28 February 2000: “Today, the strength of a nation is measured not by the weapons it wields, but by the patents it produces; not by the territory it controls, but by the ideas it advances; not only by the wealth of its resources, but by the resourcefulness of its people. In such a world, successful nations will only be those that foster a culture of innovation. They will be those that create new knowledge and bring the product of that knowledge quickly to market. Our goal as a nation must be to lead the way”: available at: <http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget00/speech/speech1e.htm#New> (last accessed 30 December 2008) (emphasis added).
6 For a detailed discussion of the nexus between patent protection and industrial growth and development, see Schumpeter, JCapitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1976, Allen & Unwin)Google Scholar. For a discussion on the need for stronger protection of intellectual property, see: Rapp, R and Rozek, RP “Benefits and costs of intellectual property protection in developing countries” (1990) 75/77 Journal of World Trade 75Google Scholar; Gutterman, AS “The north-south debate regarding the protection of intellectual property rights” (1993) 28 Wake Forest Law Review 89Google Scholar; and Gould, DM and Gruben, WC “The role of intellectual property rights in economic growth” (1996) 48 Journal of Development Economics 323Google Scholar.
7 Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: Annex 1C of the Agreement Establishing the WTO, signed in Marrakesh, Morocco on 15 April 1994. TRIPS is one of 28 agreements that make up the Final Act of the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations. It came into force on 1 January 1995.
8 On the question of customary or existing rules (“primary rules”) being considered as impure and therefore in need of rules of legitimacy (“secondary rules”), see the discussion of Hart by Constable, MThe Law of the Other: The Mixed Jury and Changing Conceptions of Citizenship, Law, and Knowledge (1991, University of Chicago Press)Google Scholar in chap 4. In the same vein, the WTO rules had, since 1995, considered existing patent systems in developing countries to be relaxed and therefore in need of reform to comply with polished western standards. The promise was further backed by the threat of alienation from the community of trading nations if a country failed to comply with TRIPS.
9 For a discussion of the concepts of “dualism” and “monism”, and the reception of international law into domestic legal systems, see Oppong, RF “Re-imagining international law: An examination of recent trends in the reception of international law into national legal systems in Africa” (2006–07) 30 Fordham International Law Journal 296Google Scholar.
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11 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property 1883 (as subsequently revised, with the last substantive revision in Stockholm in 1967).
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16 The Tower of Babel offers a metaphorical reminder of what happens when a shared “context” is completely shattered as a result of divergent opinions. See Bartlett, KT “Only girls wear barrettes: Dress and appearance standards, community norms, and workplace equality” (1993–94) 92 Michigan Law Review 2541 at 2550Google Scholar, citing Boyle, J “Modernist social theory: Roberto Unger's passion” (1984–85) 98 Harvard Law Review 1066Google Scholar.
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26 Sub-Saharan Africa comprises 48 developing and least developed countries.
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34 Art 39.3 of TRIPS. See Timmermans, K “Intertwining regimes: Trade, intellectual property and regulatory requirements for pharmaceuticals” (2005) 8 Journal of World Intellectual Property 67CrossRefGoogle Scholar, noting that the protection of data further disables generic producers from entering the market until the end of the exclusivity period.
35 As Holmes has articulated, “[t]he rational study of law is still to a large extent the study of history”: Holmes, OW “The path of the law” (1896–97) 10 Harvard Law Review 457 at 469Google Scholar. History of how developed countries relied on a lax patent system that permitted technological theft has been recounted by several scholars. Now, the former beneficiaries of the lax system are clamouring for the stringent protection of drugs, among other things. See Sell Private Power, Public Law, above at note 17 at 9; and Ostergard, RLThe Development Dilemma: The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights in the International System (2003, LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC) at 76Google Scholar and 81–82.
36 An example of such a threat was issued against Mandela's government by the US for permitting the manufacture of generic versions of HIV/AIDS vaccines. See Ostergard, ibid. See also Stiglitz “Economic foundations of intellectual property rights”, above at note 2 at 1717.
37 See “The Doha declaration explained – TRIPS”, available at: <http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dohaexplained_e.htm> (last accessed 23 January 2009).
38 On the national treatment principle, art 3 of TRIPS (part 1) provides that each WTO member shall accord to nationals of other member states treatment no less favourable than it accords to its own nationals with regard to protection.
39 On the most favoured nation principle, art 4 of TRIPS (part 1) stipulates that any advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted by a WTO member to the nationals of any other country shall be accorded immediately and unconditionally to the nationals of all other member states.
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53 See Patent Situation of HIV/AIDS-Related Drugs in 80 Countries (2000, UNAIDS/WHO).
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57 Mswati III, king of Swaziland “State of the kingdom address on opening of the houses of Parliament” (7 February 2003), quoted in J Stewart Stewart's Quotable Africa (2004, Penguin Books) at 199.
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75 Sec 2(3) of the Ghana Sale of Goods Act 1962 (Act 137).
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86 Ibid.
87 [2002] 4 SCR 153, 2002 SCC 77.
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89 Stiglitz “Economic foundations of intellectual property rights”, above at note 2 at 1701.
90 Ibid.
91 Id at 1717.
92 Id at 1714.
93 Hoen The Global Politics, above at note 14 at 71.
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