What is Patent Pooling?

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

COVID-19 puts a spotlight on importance of Medicines Patent Pool as it helps in reducing cost of medicines and makes it accessible.

Concept:

• Patent pools can be defined as an agreement between two or more patent owners to license one or more of their patents to one another or to third parties.
• In a patent pool, patent rights are aggregated amongst multiple patent holders. Then, the pooled patents are made available to member and non-member licensees and typically the pool allocates a portion of the licensing fees it collects to each member in proportion to each patent’s value.
• Often, patent pools are associated with complex technologies that require complementary patents in order to provide efficient technical solutions.

What is Albany Agreement?

• On October 24, 1856, history was made through the Albany Agreement, resulting in the first patent pool in US history.
• This was in response to the sewing machine war with nine patents pooled together on manufacture of sewing machines.

What is Nagoya Protocol?

• The Nagoya Protocol on sharing biological resources can be a guiding principle for improved access to COVID care.
• The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversityis a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
• The Nagoya Protocol applies to genetic resources that are covered by the CBD, and to the benefits arising from their utilization. The Nagoya Protocol also covers traditional knowledge (TK) associated with genetic resources that are covered by the CBD and the benefits arising from its utilization.