Podcast appearances and mentions of Brook K Baker

In October 2020, two countries, India and South Africa, that had been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 virus and its variants and by inadequate supply of personal protective equipment, diagnostic tests, and medicines, requested a waiver of intellectual property protections covering COVID-19 vaccines. Specifically, these countries are seeking a waiver that would exempt World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries from obligations related to patents, copyrights, industrial designs, and trade secrets under TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). Among other things, TRIPS requires member countries to provide minimum intellectual property protections and enforcement mechanisms that support these intellectual property rights. In a move that surprised many, on May 5, 2021, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai issued a statement announcing the current administration's support for this waiver, but initially for vaccines only rather than the additional COVID-19 health technologies covered by the waiver proposal. In Tai's announcement, she stated that “The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines.” The purpose of the waiver, as Tai notes, is to “get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people, as fast as possible.” Since Representative Tai's statement, there has been much commentary in favor and against the waiver and the U.S. support for it, but after the most recent TRIPS Council meeting, text-based negotiations have begun on the India/South Africa proposal and a European Union communication emphasizing elimination of trade barriers, voluntary agreements, and clarifications of the TRIPS Agreement's compulsory licensing rules. In this webinar, experts in intellectual property and international trade will help explain the pros and cons of the waiver proposal, what effects it may have on the pandemic, and what other impacts the waiver may have long term.Featuring: -- Jorge Contreras, Professor of Law, University of Utah College of Law -- James Bacchus, Distinguished Professor of Global Affaris and Director, Center for Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity, University of Central Florida -- Ana Santos Rutschman, Assistant Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law -- Brook K. Baker, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law -- Moderator: Steven M. Tepp, President and CEO, Sentinel Worldwide

This week we're talking to researchers about how COVID-19 vaccines are manufactured – and a battle over the intellectual property rights surrounding them. And we hear from a researcher looking into why China is closing down coal-fired power stations faster in some places than others. Welcome to episode 3 of a new podcast from The Conversation, the world explained by experts. While some of the world's richest countries are racing ahead with large-scale programmes to vaccinate their populations, for much of the developing world, the first doses of the vaccines remain a long way off. For the past few months, a group of countries has been pushing for the intellectual property rules around coronavirus vaccines to be temporarily waived temporarily, arguing this would help expand supply and push down costs. Ronald Labonté, Distinguished Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa, talks us through the detail. Meanwhile, Mosoka Fallah, Lecturer at the School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences at the University of Liberia tells us what the vaccine situation is like on the ground in West Africa, and Anne Moore, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, at University College Cork in Ireland, explains some of the processes behind making coronavirus vaccines.In our second story, we talk to Hao Tan, Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle in Australia, on his new research on why – and where – China is decommissioning coal-fired power stations. He explains what this shift means for the wider region, and those countries which export coal to China.And Clea Chakraverty, politics and society editor at The Conversation in France, gives us some recommended reading on a historic child sex abuse scandal shaking France. The Conversation Weekly is hosted by Gemma Ware and Dan Merino. The show is co-produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Visit The Conversation for full credits.Further reading:Dummy's guide to how trade rules affect access to COVID-19 vaccines, by Ronald Labonté, Distinguished Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, and Brook K. Baker, Professor of Law, Northeastern UniversityNo country is an island: collective approach to COVID-19 vaccines is the only way to go, by Mosoka Fallah, Part-time lecturer at the Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Lecturer at the School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of LiberiaHow are COVID-19 vaccines made? An expert explains, Anne Moore, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University College CorkForget about the trade spat – coal is passé in much of China, and that's a bigger problem for Australia, by Hao Tan, Associate Professor with the Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle and colleaguesInceste : au-delà du bruit médiatique, entendre la tragique banalité du phénomène, by Anne-Claude Ambroise-Rendu, Professeur d'histoire contemporaine, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) – Université Paris-Saclay See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Intellectual Property & Access to Medicines in the Developing World