Like many other
nations, the immense umbrella of Intellectual Property Law in South Africa (SA) also encompasses the legislation that
involves patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and copyright protection.
Intellectual property (IP) refers to intangible assets that are created through
human intellect. Although beneficial to the owner (creator/ producer) in many
ways, these IP assets are vulnerable to exploitation by third parties and
should be protected by a powerful means. IP law is one of the best ways famous
for protecting intangible IP that can hold immense value. It is a crucial
source used to restrict the unlawful use of inventors’ unique assets, and thus,
ensure the Intellectual Property
Protection in South Africa and
other regions worldwide.
Another main
objective of the administrators, attorneys, etc., taking care of the IP law in South Africa is to encourage the creators to create more and
more intellectual goods. Unfortunately, as the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) provided under the IP law allow the
owners to prevent others from using their assets, they often confer negative
rights. Hence, it is essential to revise the IP law in South Africa to ensure
that people seeking access to healthcare shouldn’t be denied healthcare
lifesaving drugs.
One considerable
fact about IP law in SA when it comes to the healthcare area is that the
granted IPR, i.e., patent enables the pharmaceutical companies to prohibit
others from manufacturing and selling the same medicines. The patent, no matter
whether for the protection of medications or anything else, lasts for around 20
years in most of the nations globally. It bestows the companies with a monopoly
to determine and set the price of medicines produced by them on their own. The
highly-priced drugs often push the people in desperate and fatal situations,
thus making it vital to revise the Patent Law of South Africa that lead to the granting of excessive licenses
fueling pharmaceutical monopolies.
Measures South
Africa is Taking or Should Take
Concerning the call
to revise IP law in SA and several other nations, the World Health Organization
(WHO) has provided some rules and stated that the public health principles
related to access to medicines are sustained by the Constitution of WHO along
with a wide range of national and international legal policies. Besides,
Intellectual Property Rules from the human rights viewpoint must be supervised
under principles supporting not just the public health goals but access to
medicines as well.
Still, several
pharmaceutical firms focus on monopolizing the production of drugs, especially
for TB, cancer, and hepatitis C that are the most leading cause behind deaths
in SA, only for making profits.
A physician named
Dr. Eric Goemaere, who introduced HIV treatment in SA in 2017, said that the
treatments for HIV and cancer are very complicated and expensive. That’s why
people are afraid of even looking at them. The most disconcerting thought
revolves around the resistance put up by big pharmaceutical companies on the
creation and availability of these treatments when the patient is dying. The
Treatment Action Campaign is the biggest organization that came up to provide
relief in such instances by ensuring that all people in South Africa can access
suitable medical treatment. By making the large pharmaceutical firms grant
licenses to small companies for manufacturing generic ARV (antiretroviral) and
numerous other relevant things, it ensures that the appropriate medical
facilities are available to all South Africans.
No doubt that the
rapidly advancing technology has provided us with numerous new medicines and
antiretrovirals, but the concerning fact is that all these are very expensive.
Hence, it is recommended that the government, pharmaceutical organizations,
and IP Attorneys in South Africa should work on new research and development
(R&D) models to delink the cost of R&D from the total cost for drugs or
treatments. South Africa should likewise think about the approaches for
incentivizing R&D through cash prizes, grants, and more, instead of
supporting patent monopolies leading to excessive pricing. The nation should
also advocate worldwide leadership by funding people for initiatives like
researches. It even needs to invest in the development of drugs for the future
rather than just thinking about the intellectual property market in South
Africa or outside.
Ordinary People
of South Africa
For ordinary people
in South Africa, the present scenario means that they can anytime face the
situation when it will be essential for them to get unaffordable medicines that
are secured under patents preventing other manufacturers from coming up with an
affordable alternative. It also means that human rights, constitutional rights,
and health are commodified, allowing firms with patents to deploy human
sufferings for extracting profits. In short, it suggests that the right to
access to health for common residents of South Africa is being undermined, and
therefore, the nation needs to think about – of course – the difficulties
related to IP law, but while emphasizing the violation of human rights. For
more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com
Don’t forget to
follow us on social media:
Contact - US
