UBACyT research projects
Starting date of the project
July 1, 2011
Ending date of the project
June 30, 2014
Code
20020100101046
Type of project
Consolidated group
Title
Patentability requirements: legal options and impact on public health.
Director
Carlos María Correa
Contact
| MEMBERS | ||
|---|---|---|
| N° | Name | Category |
| 1 | Alejandra Fabiana Aoun |
Researcher formed |
| 2 | Paula Lorena De Vera | Investigator in training |
| 3 | Juan Ignacio Correa | Student researcher |
| 4 | Vanesa Lowenstein | External collaborator |
| 5 | Pablo Wegbrait | External collaborator |
Keywords
Patents
Patentability requirements
Public health
Abstract
Under patent law, an invention is patentable if it meets the requirements of novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability. Competent authorities enjoy considerable freedom to determine the concrete content of such requirements, particularly in relation to the level of inventive step necessary to grant a patent. The way in which those criteria are applied may have significant consequences for the implementation of policies such as in the field of innovation, industrial and agricultural development, public health and protection of the environment and climate change. A considerable relaxation of the evaluation of such requirements (notably inventive activity) can be observed in the last decades, which has led to the proliferation of patents of low or no inventive step that may create barriers to innovation, access to technology and legitimate competition. The access to medicines is one of the central components of the right to health, as recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 12.1). Although granting patent protection over pharmaceutical products may, in certain contexts, promote the development of new medicines, the exclusivity they grant limits access to new treatments, particularly for low-income patients without social security coverage. This is further aggravated when, as it is the case nowadays, there is atrend towards the patenting of derivates or minor modifications of existing medicines, including those that are already in the public domain. The proposed research will study the meaning and scope of the referred to patentability requirements under the national law (Law 24.481 and amendments) and in comparative law, and the type and characteristics of patents granted in Argentina in the period 2000-2009, using as an example the case of the pharmaceutical industry. It will examine the possible effects of the current patenting practices on competition and public health.