Research into Patent Law and Pandemics.
Julia Suttrup (Intellectual Property Law LLM, 2022) discusses her research into Patent Law and Pandemics: “After completing my LLM studies in Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary University of London in 2022, I moved back to Germany to finish my German legal education. As part of my two-year legal traineeship, I have already worked for the European Commission (DG Competition), the State Media Authority in Hamburg and the international commercial law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on the borderline between the areas of Mergers & Acquisitions and Intellectual Property Law. Although I decided to go back to Germany for the moment, the LLM gave me a solid foundation for my further legal education. During my legal clerkship, I was not only able to draw on the knowledge I gained during my LLM but my studies at QMUL also offered me an exceptional global perspective that has already helped me several times in the course of my work to date.
Furthermore, the LLM has allowed me to conduct research in my favourite area of law: Intellectual Property Law. Recently, I had the opportunity to share the content of my dissertation on patent law in the Queen Mary Law Journal (Volume 4). The dissertation titled “Equal Access to Vaccines and Medicines – How Can Patent Law Approach Pandemics Effectively?” deals with one of the hot topics of recent years: the interplay between Covid-19 and patent law. The article analyses the correlation between the protection of patents as a driving force for investment and innovation, on the one hand, and the unhindered access to healthcare technologies, on the other hand, with close attention to the Covid-19 pandemic. It discusses legal and pragmatic solutions for guaranteeing equal access to vaccines and medicines in order to find an effective approach to pandemics and to be prepared for future pandemics. It argues that there is no perfect approach of patent law to pandemics, but a policy toolkit is needed that considers collaboration as well as knowledge transfer and balances the scope of protection with IP limitations and exceptions. Although pandemics challenge the global population, at the centre of such a solution should be the flexibility to adapt the scope of IP rights to local characteristics without limiting patent protection too much. It remains to be seen whether the world has learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and will be able to guarantee equal access to vaccines and medicines in future pandemics.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me during my studies and my legal career so far. I can’t wait to see what is yet to come. Please contact me if you have any questions concerning my studies, my dissertation or my legal career”.