No link – vaccine patents won’t be enforced, exemptions exist and licensing allows cooperation
Philip Johnson, 2024 - Chair of the Steering Committee of the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, JD from Harvard. Patent and Trademark Office Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Holds Hearing on Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, Hearing Transcript, 1/24, proquest Congressional, accessed via University of Michigan //DH
PHILIP JOHNSON: OK, well, first, as to retarding research, I couldn't disagree more. The fact of the matter is we -- first, we have the Hatch-Waxman 271 (e) (1) exemption, which allows for free research, as long as it's related to developing information for the eventual submission to the FDA. But the experience has shown that people who discover and have these inventions don't privatize them.
They naturally would like to commercialize them or at least get them spread out and used, widely. And in fact the -- when there have been very dramatic advances done in the biotechnology area, licenses have been made available because it takes a village to do all of the research that's needed in different applications.
And these are widely -- they're widely licensed on a non-exclusive or product specific basis and those -- that ability to become licensed. I want to develop product X, using this, then you're willing to invest that money because you know you have the protection of the patent that's behind the license.