On Friday 19th June, Prof Aisling McMahon (ERC PatentsInHumans Project, Maynooth University), Prof Leanne Wiseman (Griffith University) & Prof Jessica Lai (Victoria University of Wellington) organised and hosted an international workshop in Maynooth University on ‘Intellectual Property Law & Medical Technologies’. Bringing together leading international experts across intellectual property law, disability rights, health law and related fields, the workshop examined legal, ethical and policy issues around the role and use of intellectual property rights (IPRs) over assistive technologies (AT) including potential impacts on access, use and development of AT.
We include below a brief overview of the workshop – with a full workshop report to follow in coming weeks!
In session 1, Professor Mac MacLachlan, Co-Director of the Assisting Living & Learning (ALL) Institute (Maynooth University) examined ‘Assistive Products, Policies and Systems” exploring questions around access, agency, ownership & rights over assistive technologies for users and various implications for their lived experiences. Following this, Dr. Louise Hatherall (University of Birmingham) discussed findings from the Wellcome Trust funded EverydayCyborgs project led by Professor Muireann Quigley (Principal Investigator). In this paper, she discussed their project findings around medical device users’ perspectives around ownership and classification of their medical devices, and various challenges posed by the subject (person) versus object (device) distinction in law.
In session 2, Prof Leanne Wiseman (Griffith University) considered questions around access for and repair of MedTech focusing on challenges posed by copyright law in such contexts and reforms to address these. Following this, Dr hab. Lavinia Brâncuși (Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences) examined the implications of EU design law to support or hinder sustainable MedTech innovation, and how design law interacts with other intellectual property rights in the MedTech context.
In session 3, Prof Aisling McMahon & Prof Delia Ferri (School of Law and Criminology Maynooth University & Assisting Living & Learning (ALL) Institute) examined the impacts of IP rights on the deployment, access and use of Assistive Technologies focusing on the implications of IPRs over Assistive Technologies for disability rights. The second paper in this session was delivered by Dr Melanie Stockton-Brown (University of Reading) and considered issues within patent doctrine, aesthetic hearing assistive technologies and deaf legal theory. Finally in this session, Prof Jessica Lai Victoria University of Wellington discussed her paper on “Patentable Bodies: Sex, Gender and Medical Device Innovation”.
Each session was followed by an insightful panel and participant discussion around IP rights impacts on incentivising and shaping MedTech innovation, and the implications of various uses of IPRs for access and use of assistive technologies.
Many thanks to our wonderful speakers and participants for thought provoking talks and discussions over the day!
This workshop was organised by Professor Aisling McMahon (School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University), Professor Jessica Lai (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) and Professor Leanne Wiseman (Griffith University, Australia). It develops upon cross cutting themes on the role of IP rights over medical devices/Assistive technologies and implications for technology users, examined by the organisers as part of their respective funded research projects, namely, Professor Jessica Lai’s project “Patents and Power: A Critical Analysis of Knowledge Governance” supported by the New Zealand Royal Society Te Apārangi under Grant E4223 ; Professor Leanne Wiseman’s project “Unlocking Digital Innovation: IP and the Right to Repair” supported by the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship Project ID: FT210100080, and Professor Aisling McMahon’s ERC PatentsInHumans project which is supported by European Research Council (ERC) funded by the European Union (ERC, PatentsInHumans, Project No. 101042147).
This workshop was funded by the European Union (ERC, PatentsInHumans, Project No. 101042147). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors/presenters only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The views and opinions also do not reflect the views or opinions of other funding agencies or bodies.
We are also very grateful to the support of the Assisted Living and Learning (ALL) Institute and School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University in organising this event.
