The Interface of Intellectual Property Law With Medicine Law: A Call for Re-alignment

In recent years, the reverberations of technological breakthroughs have posed complex challenges to the discipline of law, requiring re-thinking and re-alignment of the different spheres of law. The pervasion of AI and the globe being hit by a pandemic have underscored the urgency of addressing these challenges. IP law, being no exception, has geared itself to provide a solid framework to ensure protection and promotion of innovation through enforcement of patent, copyright, trademark, and design regimes across the world. However, there are outstanding issues that continue to grow despite earnest efforts, such as counterfeiting and piracy, indicating that there is a need to re-think and review the existing frameworks. In this chapter, the interface of Intellectual Property (IP) law with medicine law will be examined. At first, the context of the interaction of IP and medicine law will be set up, and thereafter the focus will be on selected issues that emerge as a result of the interaction of these two spheres of law. The issues will cast light on what the realm of IP law can learn, what IP law can teach other disciplines and legal spheres, and how the interface of the two streams of law can be addressed in order to serve the basic purpose of law – to deliver justice and contribute towards a just and fair society.