Daily Archive

Over at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research, we have recently launched Cooperadio – The Global Cooperation Podcast. In its most recent episode on “Patents, Profits & Pandemics”, I had the honor and pleasure to host intellectual property scholar Susan Sell, who echoes a growing consensus that our intellectual property regime, that is so essential for 21st century intellectual monopoly capitalism, is hampering global health outcomes – not just in the current pandemic.

Together, we addressed questions such as the following:

• While in regions like Europe and North America national vaccination campaigns have been picking up speed over the past months, the less well-off majority of the world has seen little to no vaccine supplies.
• Why does it have to be like that?
• Is there a moral obligation to make health innovations easily available globally?
• What about the intellectual property rights of the researchers and creators of these innovations, should they not profit from their work?

Check it out!

(sigrid)