BRIEF—COVID IP waiver plan at WTO being revised amid 'optimism'

A proposal to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments left a World Trade Organization Intellectual Property (IP) panel deadlocked again Friday, but proponents said they will revise the plan to find common ground, which the committee's chairman said was cause for "careful optimism,” writes Ryan Davis on LAW360, a LexisNexis company.

The controversial call to temporarily limit IP rights amid the pandemic has been spearheaded by India and South Africa and opposed by many wealthy nations. On Friday, it left members of WTO's Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights far apart, just as they were at their  previous meeting in March, according to a Geneva trade official.

The USA has to date opposed the proposed waiver, but President Joe Biden has been the focus of furious lobbying both for and against it.  The White House said this week that the administration is evaluating the proposal and has not made a decision about it.