Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Notre Dame Law Review
Publication Date
6-2024
ISSN
0745-3515
Page Number
1315
Keywords
public health, patent law, infringement
Disciplines
Health Law and Policy | Intellectual Property Law | Law
Abstract
Innumerable inventions implicate public health-including drugs, vac- cines, dietary supplements, and sewage treatment plants. Over the past cen- tury, the Patent Office and the courts have modulated the ability to obtain or enforce patents for these inventions-whether in response to a public health crisis or to protect the credulous public from unscrupulous inventors. While normative and policy-based arguments can justify these interventions, they've disrupted the delicate balance of two competing policy objectives in patent law- enhancing public welfare and promoting innovation. This Article offers a new approach for courts to protect public health in patent cases-by making public health an affirmative defense to infringement. If the patent owner has engaged in invention-related egregious misconduct that's jeopardized public health, the court could render the patent unenforceable by dismissing the lawsuit. Or the court could render the patent temporarily unenforceable until the misconduct ceases and its ill effects on public health dissipate. This proposal aligns with the increasing use of equitable remedies in patent disputes and raises interest- ing normative and policy questions about the role of public health issues in patent law.
Recommended Citation
Sean B. Seymore,
Patent Law's Role in Protecting Public Health, 99 Notre Dame Law Review. 1315
(2024)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1605