Patents: Flawed novelty

IP in a pandemic When the global coronavirus outbreak started, few would have guessed that a key factor shaping the pandemic’s trajectory would be something seemingly so far removed from viruses and diseases: patents. But because [patents]( (and more broadly, intellectual property or IP) grant the official legal right to make, use, and sell an invention, they can also define how quickly the world can manufacture and access covid vaccines and drugs. Just look at the [massive global covid vaccine inequity](: higher income countries have far higher vaccination rates than lower income nations. Some have argued that [the lack of a waiver]( on patents and IP has contributed directly to the current state of vaccine inequality. Others say the vaccine gap is driven by deeper flaws in the international IP system, of which the waiver debate is a symptom. Let’s take a turbo tour of the world of patents. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Weekly Obsession] Patents April 27, 2022 IP in a pandemic --------------------------------------------------------------- When the global coronavirus outbreak started, few would have guessed that a key factor shaping the pandemic’s trajectory would be something seemingly so far removed from viruses and diseases: patents. But because [patents]( (and more broadly, intellectual property or IP) grant the official legal right to make, use, and sell an invention, they can also define how quickly the world can manufacture and access covid vaccines and drugs. Just look at the [massive global covid vaccine inequity](: higher income countries have far higher vaccination rates than lower income nations. Some have argued that [the lack of a waiver]( on patents and IP has contributed directly to the current state of vaccine inequality. Others say the vaccine gap is driven by deeper flaws in the international IP system, of which the waiver debate is a symptom. Let’s take a turbo tour of the world of patents. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( By the digits [14,978,300:]( Total number of patents in force in 2019, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization [68,720:]( Number of international patents filed by China in 2020, making it the top filer for the second year in a row [>$1 billion:]( Amount American pharmaceutical company Moderna could owe if the US sues it for not licensing a government-owned patent for its coronavirus jab [NZ$14 million:]( Amount in damages a kiwi grower was ordered to pay kiwifruit giant Zespri for smuggling patent-protected kiwis to China [1915:]( Year in which the original Coca-Cola bottle patent was granted [174,465:]( The US patent number for Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, often described as as the most valuable patent ever granted Giphy Wavering on waivers The complexity of suspending vaccine patents --------------------------------------------------------------- Would a waiver on covid healthcare-related patents and intellectual property help close the vaccine gap? Proponents of the waiver say yes, arguing that giving IP protections for covid vaccines and drugs for the duration of the pandemic can [radically increase]( the supply of covid vaccines. Opponents say a waiver ignores fundamental causes of vaccine scarcity, such as the [lack of manufacturing capacity]( and [opaque bargaining practices](. Still others say that it’s not a waiver that’s needed, but a complete rethink of the global IP system. “[T]he vaccine gap is not an accident, nor is it an unexpected outcome,” Harvard law professor and IP expert Ruth Okediji [said]( at a panel discussion last year. “…And the structural conditions that produce a lack of access to essential medicines are directly related to the underlying rules of the international economic system.” Charted The poorest countries have been left behind in the effort to vaccinate the world against covid-19. Comparing every country’s GDP per capita to its covid-19 vaccine doses per capita shows just [how glaring]( the vaccine equity gap is. [A chart showing GDP and covid-19 vaccination doses per capita. The countries with higher GDP have higher vaccine doses per capita.] Eric Helgas, styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Listen up! Is there an invention to fix national debt? --------------------------------------------------------------- Well, the first problem is that many people see national debt in a similar light as personal debt. In reality, it operates completely differently. Pop quiz: What measure of national debt should we really pay attention to? - The big (and ever-growing) sum of everything that’s owed - The debt-to-GDP ratio - A country’s ability to service the debt, or the cash needed to repay interest and principal on debt that’s owed in a year Answer: C 🎧 Want to know why? This week’s [episode of the Quartz Obsession podcast]( looks at the world’s complicated relationship with national debt. Listen on: [Apple Podcasts]( | [Spotify]( | [Google]( | [Stitcher]( Sponsored by EY [Listen now]( Case study Patents are big business --------------------------------------------------------------- Speaking of the international economic system: a lot of money hinges on patents. And that, in turn, influences the decisions that companies make—often with huge human implications. Take the drug GS-441524, for example. The patent for that drug is held by Gilead Sciences, the American biopharma giant. Gilead also owns the patent for remdesivir, which is [almost identical to GS-441524](, and has been [widely used]( to treat covid patients. Yet some scientists [have argued]( that GS-441524 is far simpler to mass produce, [pointing to research]( showing it’s as effective (if not more so) against coronavirus in animal models. So why has Gilead chosen remdesivir instead? Gilead says it’s because remdesivir is in fact more effective, and was already tested in human clinical trials, hence faster to deploy for the covid pandemic. US-based chemist [Victoria Yan]( thinks the answer is different: money. She points out that Gilead’s patent for GS-441524 was [published in 2009]( with expiration in 2029. Meanwhile, the first patent for remdesivir was [issued in 2017](—giving Gilead eight additional years of monopoly profits over GS-441524. “[M]y belief is that—from a business perspective—Gilead did not feel that GS-441524 would be a sure-fire, safe financial investment,” says Yan, who for nearly two years has been trying to push Gilead to release the GS-441524 patent [into the public domain](, or license it to them, but to no avail. Quotable “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” — Most often attributed, [likely erroneously](, to commissioner of the US patent office Charles H. Duell, though the quote appears to [trace its origins back to a joke]( in an 1899 edition of Punch magazine Giphy Pop quiz What do patents protect? Inventions or discoveriesOriginal artistic worksIdeasWords, phrases, symbols, or devices that distinguish a product Correct. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Brief history [1421:]( The first recorded patent for an industrial invention was granted to Filippo Brunelleschi, a Florentine architect who invented a crane system to move marble. [1474:]( The Venetian Act is passed, the earliest known modern law to grant and protect patents. [1623:]( The British parliament passes the Statute of Monopolies, which forms the basis of the modern British patent system. [1790:](The US passes its first patents act, recognizing patents as an inventor’s right, not a privilege bestowed by the monarch. [1980:]( The US Supreme Court rules that genetically modified organisms can be patented, in a case that has had a great impact on the growth of the biotech sector. [2019:]( China becomes the top filer of international patents, unseating the US. Fun fact! J. M. Smucker Co. patented a “sealed crustless sandwich”—a frozen, sealed PB&J sandwich with no crust—in 1999, but a US federal appeals court ruled in 2005 that the product was [not novel or non-obvious enough]( to warrant a patent. Smucker’s still makes its [Uncrustables](, just sans patent. Youtube Watch this! We often think of the original video game as Atari’s 1972 Pong. But another company, Magnavox, had unveiled its Odyssey gaming console [months earlier](. In 1974, Magnavox sued Atari and several other firms for patent infringement. [Atari settled for $1.5 million and licensed]( the technology from Magnavox. Giphy Poll Would you file a patent? [Click here to vote]( I don’t think I’ll invent or find something.Definitely, I’m a born inventor.No. Patents hamper innovation. 💬 Let's talk! In last week’s poll about [black boxes](, 70% of you really needed a puppy pic break after reading about them. 30% of you said ​​that puppies don’t impact the future of aviation, and that’s fair, but we’re still going to watch them be silly. 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20patents%20&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🎲 [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Mary Hui]( (do you say pay-tent or pat-ent?), edited by [Morgan Haefner]( (says pat-ent), and produced by [Jordan Weinstock]( (who the heck says pay-tent?!) [facebook]([twitter]([external-link]( The correct answer to the quiz is Inventions or discoveries. Enjoying the Quartz Weekly Obsession? 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