Amid global criticism for holding on to vaccine patents during the pandemic, a new study commissioned by the European pharmaceuticals industry claims that integrating stronger intellectual property protection into free trade agreements would benefit the EU economy.
On Tuesday (11 January), the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) presented a study in which it analysed the importance of intellectual property (IP) protection for different industries, stating that IP-intensive industries constituted 44.8% of EU GDP and 38.9% of EU employment.
According to the study, the pharmaceutical industry is the most IP-intensive industry in Europe, followed by the ICT and electronics sector.
Trademarks, copyrights, patents, and geographical indications were considered as the relevant IP categories in the study.
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