The issue raised by US President Joe Biden’s proposal to abolish copyright on Covid-19 vaccines has brought to the surface an existing problem and a ghost hovering over the economy. The real problem is that vaccines go to rich countries and not to poor countries. The ghost above the economy is that of intellectual property.
Capitalism is the most productive system in the history of mankind. Its core consists of both the freedom of business and the institution of property. The institution of property allows people, always with the guarantee of the state, to fence a piece of land and do what they want and in accordance with the existing legal framework.
It is the institution of property that creates the framework of security and incentives for citizens to produce more. Regarding the intellectual property-patent, the idea e.g. to build a wheel or a generator can find suitable ground and if there is a demand to multiply its construction.
Intellectual property deficits have always been a constant motivator for capitalism to become increasingly productive. This is because in order to be ahead of developments one has to constantly innovate.
Societies have achieved this as a point through public and free education. Vaccines for Covid-19 have been found in record time because for years governments have been funding funding for biomedical research, especially basic research without, and in some cases, clinical trials by companies in the final stages.
So since the research is funded with public money, the companies then hold patents for 20 years – against the costs they did not incur, but the taxpayers who pay taxes to the public treasury that then funds these surveys.
Thanks to patents, the sale of vaccines / drugs is achieved at prices much higher than those set by the free market.
In a global pandemic, the business model of vaccine production and distribution is inadequate. Vaccines in this case are a social good. Some pharmaceutical companies should adopt the attitude of Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, who had the vision for a global, fast, decentralized information delivery system, and created the World Wide Web (www) that transformed the people. He denied patents and rights and donated it to humanity.
