12 May 2021
In 2010 and 2011, well ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, Toyama Chemical Co.,Ltd, now trading as “Fjujifilm Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd.”, filed three patent applications in Thailand nos. 1101001988, 1301001720, and 1301001721 for the production of Favipiravir tablets. Favipiravir is a pyrazinecarboxamide derivative with activity against RNA viruses that was initially approved for therapeutic use in resistant cases of influenza. Current treatments for people infected with COVID-19 in Thailand include the prescription of Favipiravir. On 17 July 2020, AIDS Access Foundation opposed the patent applications. The Patent Office of the Department of Intellectual Property of Thailand (DIP) has now rejected the applications on the ground that they lack of inventive step. Fujifilm Toyama may appeal against the rejection decision before the Patent Board. In the meantime, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a state enterprise and a key manufacturer of drugs is developing favipravir to boost the Thailand’s supply amid rising demand for Covid-19 treatment.
The Director General of the DIP, Vuttikrai Leewiraphan, commented the rejection of the patent applications:
“All sectors are playing their part in coping with the spread of Covid-19, with the common goal to provide people with quick access to necessary drugs”
which echoes what United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai wrote in a statement earlier this week:
“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines”.
Arbitration is also the preferred method of dispute resolution for cases involving China because foreign judgments are not enforceable there. While the Chinese courts are an option – and despite the substantial improvement in the Chinese IP litigation system – many parties prefer to arbitrate dispute rather than litigate.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen intense cooperation efforts in the pharmaceutical and life sciences areas as well as significant leaps in the development and use of technology, all of which may in the longer term lead to disputes over the scope and terms of the cooperation agreements and rights to inventions and other developments.
Rouse’s Global Head of Dispute Resolution, Doug Clark, will talk about how he sees the future of IP dispute resolution in Asia, focussing on China, as well as the various options for arbitration IP disputes in Asia. In doing so he will discuss key issues that have arisen in recent arbitration disputes he has handled both as an arbitrator and as counsel.
fmattei@rouse.com
