Beijing Normal University Global Development Strategic Partnership Project
外国专家讲座 第五讲
Foreign Expert Virtual Lecture SeriesLecture 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.
On 18 November 2022, Prof. Xue was invited to present virtually on the Forum of China Africa Cross-Border E-Commerce, which was an important component of 2022 China-Africa Economic and Trade Forum organized by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and Zhejiang Province. Prof. Xue emphasized the importance of paperless trade measures in facilitation of digital trade and elaborated the necessity of international frameworks to enable the cross-border recognition and connectivity of paperless trade measures. Prof. Xue demonstrated to the Chinese and African traders the key international legal instruments on cross-border paperless trade, especially the UN Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific. Prof. Xue’s presentation was highly regarded by the Forum organizers and all audience.
On 3 November 2022, Asia Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center (ADNDRC), along with China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, organized the Webninar “ADNDRC @ 20: DNDR in the Digital Economy”. HKIAC, ICANN and CNNIC, etc. were the supporting organizations.
Prof. Xue gave a keynote speech on Rejuvenation of ADR in Digital Economy. She raised that ADR should be reinterpreted from the original meaning, making it Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted smart dispute resolution to fit the need of digital economy. In her keynote speech, Prof. Xue said the ADR coverage and scope of proceedings have been augmented in the new laws like EU DSM Directive or Digital Service Act, automated procedural management will entirely replace human to create more efficient proceedings, and autonomous discovery could be widely adopted to assist the adjudicator to make more precise and solid decisions. In Prof. Xue’s belief, the AI-enabled, augmented and automated disputed resolution would become the mainstream dispute resolution in digital economy. More than 530,000 audience from 41 countries watched the Webinar.