Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Todd Young (R-Indiana) sent a letter to President Biden urging his administration to oppose a proposal at the World Trade Organization that would strip American companies of their intellectual property rights for any innovation related to COVID-19.
In part, the senators wrote:
“India, South Africa, and other countries are presenting a proposal at the World Trade Organization to waive all intellectual property rights for any innovation related to COVID-19. The proponents of this scheme argue that if we just destroy the intellectual property developed by American companies, we will suddenly have more manufacturers producing COVID-19 vaccines.
But the opposite is true. By destroying the intellectual property of every American company that has worked on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments we would be ending the progress—started under Operation Warp Speed—that led to the fastest development of life-saving vaccines in history.”
The full letter may be found here. Text is below.
