An Intellectual Property Primer
Oxfam's work in this area centers on patents, the form of protection granted to innovators of drugs or other medical treatments.
Intellectual property (IP) consists of ideas and knowledge. The format in which innovative ideas and knowledge are expressed - whether a painting, a machine, a drug, a song, or even a type of seed - can be protected under national intellectual property laws. The law provides an innovator with rights to produce, copy, distribute, and market his or her product.
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| By: Toby Adamson/Oxfam |
IP protection is meant to strike a balance between the interests of the innovator in recovering the costs of his invention, and the interest of the community in having the use of the invention. This provides incentives to innovators to come up with new ideas and inventions. In exchange for providing the innovator with a limited monopoly over the marketing of his product ("limited" because she or he is typically given exclusive rights over the invention for a specified period of time), the community is later provided with the new idea and/or product and information regarding its development and functioning. (The inventor, in applying for the patent, must disclose all information about the new product.)
For example, in exchange for patent protection for a new medicine, the inventor must reveal the formulation of the drug in addition to test data illustrating its efficacy and safety. The patent holder is granted a limited monopoly over production, distribution, and marketing of the drug in exchange for making such information–and the product itself–available to the community.
Intellectual Property laws typically contain "safeguards". These are exceptional, temporary measures enabling governments to override patent rights in the public interest. For example, under the safeguard called compulsory licensing, governments may produce patented medication in response to a public health problem.
Oxfam is particularly concerned about intellectual property laws that inhibit access to medicines. Our work in this area centers primarily on patents, as this is the form of IP protection granted to innovators of drugs or other medical treatments.