Patent Law. The suit of the South African Government by 39 pharmaceutical corpora-tions, concerning imports of 'genuine' AIDS drugs.
INDEX
1. Introduction
2. Description of the case
3. Laws applicable
a) TRIP's
b) Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act (South Africa - 1997)
c) International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
d) WTO rules concerning dumping practices.
4. Dispute resolution
5. Comparative cases
6. Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
This assignment aims to analyse the case concerning the patent law, and par-ticularly compulsory licensing and parallel importing for drugs. The case arose from the dispute about AIDS drugs between the South African Government and 39 international pharmaceutical corporations. The battle was about the industry's pat-ent protection rights and patients' rights to affordable medicines.
In order to analyse the laws applied and those that could be applied to solve the dispute, we will examine TRIP's agreement, Medicines and Related Sub-stances Control Amendment Act (South Africa - 1997), International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and WTO rules concerning Anti-dumping.
Houses of Parliament (Cape Town, South Africa)
English: South African Government - 1929
English: South African Government (1923)In the end we will try to confront the case with similar cases and ana-lyse the differences in their solutions and laws applied. We will also make some assumptions on how the analysed case will affect the international laws concerning patents for drugs and solutions of disputes that could arise in this field.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CASE
1. History
The case is concerned with the amendments of the South African Medicines and Related Substances Control Act, which allowed getting an easier and less ex-pensive access to the anti-AIDS drugs, and the opposition against such amend-ments by 39 pharmaceutical corporations.
On October 31, 1997, the South African Parliament passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act, and President Nelson Mandela signed it into law on November 25, 1997. The new law...