Posted on 05/21/2021 8:04:21 AM PDT by SJackson
President Joe Biden has endorsed a global effort to seize the intellectual property rights of American manufacturers.
The decision to back a petition at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to “waive” intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines will do nothing to speed up efforts to vaccinate the rest of the world.
It will set a precedent that government bureaucrats can surrender the intellectual property of American manufacturers and innovators whenever it is deemed politically expedient.
Moreover, this decision provides an implicit endorsement of the rampant theft of American intellectual property by China.
Upon taking office, Biden promised to hold China accountable. In a speech weeks after the inauguration, Biden vowed to “push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance.” To onlookers that day, Biden was promising to build on former President Trump’s progress in holding China accountable.
By backing the IP waiver, Biden will ignore warnings from the FBI that China was targeting COVID-19 research. China has long pushed to weaken global IP protections, known as TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights).
Rather than surrendering on IP rights, the Biden administration should reduce protectionist trade restrictions imposed by other nations on COVID-19 products and encourage investments into vaccine manufacturing capacity that mirror Trump’s Operation Warp Speed.
Seizing the trade secrets and IP of American COVID-19 manufacturers will do nothing to help fight the pandemic. Criminal syndicates all over the world have already taken advantage of the crisis to market fake COVID-19 tests, fake personal protective equipment and fake vaccines.
Biden will make the problem worse. Foreign countries could see a flood of fraudulent vaccines from criminal organizations and from generic manufacturers that struggle to get the formula right. The case of Emergent BioSolutions — a Maryland-based manufacturer that contaminated 15 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine — shows that the manufacturing process is complex and requires extensive quality checks.
Medical innovation does not happen by accident. It requires decades of research and development, billions of dollars in costs, and extensive collaboration between manufacturers, private investors and the world’s smartest scientists. This is only possible due to intellectual property rights and private enterprise that underpin American innovation.
This innovation also supports high-paying manufacturing jobs across the country, something Biden claims to be a champion for. According to TEConomy Partners, LLC, medical innovation directly supports 800,000 jobs and supports four million jobs when indirect and economically induced jobs are taken into account.
By greenlighting foreign efforts to seize American innovation, Biden is threatening these jobs.
Foreign countries want to piggyback off American innovation while doing nothing to respect the system that led to this innovation.
For instance, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spearheaded an industrial strategy that involves high trade barriers on imports of American vaccines and medical products, and weak or non-existent IP rights.
India refused to pre-order vaccines, waiting until January to order 15 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Today, total orders amount to only 260 million doses, an insignificant number for the nation of 1.3 billion. The problem here is not IP rights, but inefficient, incompetent, or willfully ignorant politicians.
US imposes sanctions on two Houthi leaders Biden hails cease-fire agreement between Israel, Hamas The Biden administration should reverse course and defend American IP rights. Biden’s push to surrender American medical innovation to foreign countries puts him to the left of many left-of-center western countries. French President Emmanuel Macron has raised concern with the IP waiver, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly opposes this effort. This effort requires unanimous consent at the WTO so there is hope that American intellectual property will not be given away.
Foreign leaders like Merkel and Macron may save us despite Biden’s weakness. But that doesn’t absolve Biden of responsibility. Instead of surrendering life saving patent rights, Biden should stand strong and oppose any effort to seize the intellectual property of American manufacturers.
It may not be good for America, but it's good for Joe Biden.
*sigh* muslim loving establishment type speaks.
Saw him on Maria this morning, that prompted me to turn off the tv.
Somewhere money is changing hands.
Grover Norquist, that A-hole is still alive? He’s just giving Biden cover by saying he’s wrong. The “administration” giving away intellectual property is a big part of the plan to destroy the country. These polls giving the bastards a pass is getting old.
So now we are putting shit on this website by a known fundraiser for Hamas and Hezbollah?
Normally I would agree, but in this case the US government guarantee and paid for these patents so the drug companies took no risk.
Doesn’t bother me a bit. They aren’t private patents because they are in partnership with government. Government is using heavy handed techniques to force them onto people. Government gives them special legal protection. And I hope it takes money away from Fauci and Gates.
And Grover Norquist is an anti-MAGA lowlife globalist.
If the government holds the patents, you’re right, it’s a non issue. Or if the government has the legal ability to essentially void them in the context of their partnership with the affected companies. I haven’t seen anything that says that, but it’s quite possible.
In power or out, they are in a state of total war against the American people and will form tactical alliances as needed with any of our enemies.
Think Common Good. It gives such a nicer warm and fuzzy to the capitulated.
https://www.rockefeller.edu/technology-transfer/
Next up https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/ Wild Kingdom expands its domain.
WHO dud a thunk.
Many countries have reserved TRIPS 31 rights, which allow them to obtain patent licensing rights.
There is already a TRIPS 31 patent licensing pathway.
Vaccine manufacture is tough. AstraZeneca has had problems making sufficient vaccine to fulfil EU contracts.
The raw materials for vaccine production should not be diverted from highly experienced and productive Western manufacturers to Third World start-ups.
As the article says, there may be other applicable patents and patent applications.
“the US government guarantee and paid for these patents so the drug companies took no risk.”
Some of the technology used predates Operation Warp Speed and the UK equivalent of Warp Speed.
“BioNTech chief Ugur Sahin on Tuesday said that thanks to the company and partner Pfizer’s ramped-up manufacturing capacity, the team will be able to produce nearly 3 billion doses this year—up from a previous forecast of 2.5 billion doses.”
*uckem.
Hillary sold the Russians our Uranium...
Biden closed our pipeline while opening Russia’s..
Why wouldn’t commie/dems also let the rest of the world steal our intellectual property? China’s already paid off Biden and his thug son... maybe the whole Biden family...
Russians have probably paid them off too... or at least have access to the tapes to blackmail Hunter and ‘the family’....
On the lighter brighter side, liberal ‘elites’ don’t have to read Trump’s tweets...
After shipping all of our technology out of the country to be stolen by the communists with these free trade deals, our side has little room to talk about protecting intellectual property.
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