PRIVATE PATENTS AND PUBLIC HEALTH

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FROM DECLARATION
TO APPLICATION:
The practical use of
the Doha Declaration
since 2001
PRIVATE PATENTS AND PUBLIC HEALTH
IMPLEMENTING DOHA: COMPULSORY LICENCES,
GOVERNMENT USE, AND WAIVERS FOR LDCS
The 2001 Doha Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) and Public
Health signalled an important turning point in the approach to
intellectual property (IP) in the area of health. But while the
Doha Declaration was adopted by a consensus of World Trade Organization
(WTO) members, the actual application of it has often been mired in
controversy, particularly in the case of middle-income countries.
Nevertheless, the use of the Doha Declaration by countries to increase
access to medicines has been more extensive than is generally assumed. In
particular, there has been the use of: the LDC waiver or Paragraph 7
mechanism that allows LDCs to not grant and not enforce pharmaceutical
product patents; and compulsory licensing, including government use
(or ‘public non-commercial use’), primarily in the procurement of
medicines needed to treat HIV/AIDS.
This chapter documents the use of the measures available in TRIPS and
the Doha Declaration since the adoption of the Doha Declaration in 2001.
This work builds on earlier overviews of the use of certain TRIPS
flexibilities 80, 81, 82 and complements these overviews with data obtained
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