Beijing Normal University Global Development Strategic Partnership Project

外国专家讲座 第五讲

Foreign Expert Virtual Lecture Series Lecture 5

Gauging Patent Impacts on Post-Pandemic World Trade

In Memory of 2022 UNCITRAL Asia and the Pacific Day

日期：2022年11月21，UTC +8:00 18:00-21:00

Zoom Virtual Conference System

主持人: Prof. Hong Xue, Beijing Normal University

主讲人: Madam Wu Xiaoping，Counselor in the Intellectual Property, Government Procurement and Competition Division of the World Trade Organization

Topic: Innovation and Patenting Activities of COVID-19 Vaccines in WTO Members: Analytical Review of Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) COVID-19 Vaccines Patent Landscape (VaxPaL)

At the beginning, Prof. Xue introduced the close collaboration with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), which was established under the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2205 (XXI) of 17 December 1966 and has been the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. The UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RCAP) launched from 2014 the UNCITRAL Asia Pacific Day (AP Day) academic series to promote awareness of international trade standards and norms, particularly those endorsed by UNCITRAL, among law students. The UNCITRAL Asia Pacific Day is an annual flagship academic series. In 2021, an initial 34 universities and institutions across the Asia-Pacific region in 13 jurisdictions have joined the annual celebration by co-hosting a series of academic events with UNCITRAL RCAP.

2022 marks a very special occasion as RCAP celebrates its 10th anniversary. The main theme of the UNCITRAL Asia Pacific Day 2022 is “RCAP@10: The Next 10 Years of Legal Harmonization in the Region”. Prof. Xue elaborated that world trade, including IP trade, is being affected the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccination is the most powerful tool to safeguard public health and trade environment.

Mrs. Wu was invited as an IP expert and giving the Lecture in her personal capacity for educational purpose only. Mrs. Xiaoping Wu is Counsellor in the Intellectual Property, Government Procurement and Competition Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 2006. She undertakes work in the area of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), with a focus on patent-related policy issues and review of WTO Members’ national intellectual property legislation. She also takes part in WTO technical assistance and capacity building programs on intellectual property and TRIPS to developing counties.

Mrs. Wu presented a WTO on-going research project to analyze and review COVID-19 vaccine patent landscape. The research provides a statistical analysis of 74 patent families which cover subject matter relevant to ten COVID-19 vaccines. These vaccines have accounted for 99% of the global COVID-19 vaccine production as of 31 December 2021, comprising over ten billion doses. Eight of them have been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for inclusion in its Emergency Use Listing (EUL). The analysis is based on a COVID-19 vaccines patent database developed by the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). Through the detailed examination of patent applicants, filing dates, and offices of first and subsequent filing, the paper identifies patterns and trends of innovation and patenting activities of COVID-19 vaccines in WTO Members, and presents the legal status of the 74 patent families in 105 jurisdictions. The research provides the useful background information for policymakers on the significance and potential impact of these patent families with relevance to the access to and production of these vaccines in their individual countries. The research aims to support evidence-based assessments regarding potential options within and beyond the current TRIPS framework to promote equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

More than 20 BNU LLM, JM and PhD students from China, France, Italy, Russia, Congo and Uganda joined the Virtual Lecture and raised many questions to the Lecturers. The officers from UNCITRAL and RCAP also joined the Lecture virtually from Vienna and Incheon. The Lecture that enriched the participants’ understanding on the COVID-19 vaccine patent global distribution and legal impacts hailed as huge success.

2022年11月21日北京师范大学全球发展战略合作伙伴项目外国专家网络讲座第五讲在隆重举行，由薛虹教授主持。

薛教授首先介绍了与UNCITRAL的密切的合作关系及联合国国际贸易法委员会（UNCITRAL）亚太日20周年纪念活动，并邀请在世贸组织知识产权、政府采购与竞争部门工作的吴小平女士作客座演讲。吴女士系以个人身份为教育目的进行的演讲。

吴女士介绍了世贸组织今年早些时候基于MPP之COVID-19疫苗专利数据库进行的专项研究。该研究分析了10种针对COVID-19的疫苗涉及的74个专利族、开发所用的四种技术平台以及它们的全球生产现状，描述了与10种COVID-19疫苗相关的创新和专利活动的模式和趋势，包括专利申请人、申请日、受理首次申请及后续申请的专利局，并以图表的形式进行了清晰的呈现。本次研究的目的是在复杂的专利数据中得出与法律和技术有关的信息，为政策制定者提供有用的背景资料，说明这些专利族对各个国家获得和生产这些疫苗的重要性和潜在影响，将有助于对当前《与贸易有关的知识产权协定》的框架的备选方案进行实际评估，以促进公平获得针对COVID-19的疫苗。

来自中国、法国、意大利、俄罗斯、乌干达、刚果的中国法硕士项目研究生、法学硕士研究生、法律硕士研究生、法学博士研究生20余人参加了网络讲座，并与主讲教授进行了长时间的生动交流互动。UNCITRAL及RCAP的官员从维也纳与仁川网络参加了讲座。通过此次的专题讲座活动，我校法学院师生对与新冠肺炎疫苗有关的专利全球分布及其法律影响有了进一步的认识，这次活动的成功举办收获了师生的一致好评。