title: Managing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) intellectual property rights: the possible role of patent pooling.
abstract: Patent applications that incorporate the genomic sequence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, have been filed by a number of organizations. This is likely to result in a fragmentation of intellectual property (IP) rights which in turn may adversely affect the development of products, such as vaccines, to combat SARS. Placing these patent rights into a patent pool to be licensed on a non-exclusive basis may circumvent these difficulties and set a key precedent for the use of this form of mechanism in other areas of health care, leading to benefits to public health.
authors.affiliation: CoroNovative BV, Rotterdam, Netherlands. simon@vironovative.com
authors.forename: James H M
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Claassen
authors.forename: Carmen E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.forename: Albert D M E
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Osterhaus
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D006801:Humans; D018973:Intellectual Property; D010330:Patents as Topic / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines