Waivers
The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in patents from biotechnology patent waivers.
This AFF strengthens domestic IP protections by making patent waivers (the government’s ability to seize the intellectual property rights to an invention or a set of inventions) in biotechnology (encompasses vaccines, gene-editing, biofuels, medicines and therapeutics for healthcare, and far more) illegal. In 2022, the World Trade Organization (WTO) passed a patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, which the U.S. supported. This waiver exempted all of the consigning countries from certain protections under TRIPS (The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which compels WTO members to implement a set of IP protections.)