Canada emergency legislation allows health minister to circumvent patent laws during COVID-19 public health emergency News
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Canada emergency legislation allows health minister to circumvent patent laws during COVID-19 public health emergency

The Canadian legislature passed emergency legislation on Wednesday that will allow the Minister of Health to circumvent patent laws for supplies that are necessary to combat the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The bill requires payment of renumeration for the patentees in the “amount that the Commissioner considers to be adequate renumeration in the circumstances.”

“These provisions will help ensure that the existence of a patent covering an existing or new vaccine or treatment is not a barrier to securing needed supplies when those supplies cannot be secured from the patentee,” said the ministry. The ministry also said the new provisions applied equally to all patented inventions.

This is just one of many measures taken by the Canadian government in response to the public health emergency.

For more on COVID-19, see our special coverage.

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