COVID-19 Solutions Will Require Collaboration Between Individuals, Corporations, and Government

Note: This article was written on April 9th, 2020.

In this time of anxious uncertainty brought by COVID-19, society must (and has already begun to) find ways of adequately addressing the various complications that arise from such an unprecedented, unexpected event. In order to prevent spread, inform the public, and make decisions regarding safety measures, we must determine strategies to tracking the virus in a timely manner, as well as tools for allowing more rapid diagnosis. In order to limit death caused by the virus, we must find new ways to create, produce, and repair critical healthcare equipment (e.g. ventilators). And, in order to ensure public safety under resource constraints, we must find production methods and do-it-yourself tools to ensure that the public is supplied with preventative solutions (e.g. hand sanitizer and face masks).

Luckily, “a global community of scientists, government officials, journalists, programmers, and concerned citizens” have “come together to collaborate on a variety of projects with the shared goal of understanding COVID-19 and coordinating the best response” (Woodward). With the economy in shambles, big business will be weary in considering the deployment of resources to fight the problems generated by COVID-19. Doing so would risk further losses during what is already a time of great crisis. Instead, open source has-- and will continue to be-- the key to fighting COVID-19. It allows for broader collaboration on projects, which means that solutions will be found more quickly; does not require funding (at least, not at the problem-solving level); and generates widespread knowledge of the virus’ current state. However, the problem cannot be solved by OSD alone: we also need corporations with adequate resources to produce the solutions, and we will need the government to ensure such corporations are committed to making the solutions available to all and producing at the fastest rate.

I propose that the most efficient way to fight the health-related issues caused by COVID-19 is by developing open source based models and designed to stimulate collaboration between (or, at least, make use of) private corporations, educational institutions, the public, and the government.

Especially when one considers the disruption of in-person business interaction (and the disruption of business in general), combined with the increased amount of free-time available to individuals due to the outbreak, open source emerges as the best route to solving COVID-related issues. People now have more time and are motivated to search for, work on, and create solutions to these problems. Since late January, “the number of COVID-19 related projects and contributors” has continued to “grow rapidly” (Woodward). A post on GitHub notes that over the past two months, for free and open source (FOSS) projects alone, “over 6,000 contributors are supporting more than 3,000 COVID-19 response projects around the world. So far these projects have been viewed by more than 140,000 unique users over 2 million times” (Woodward). Projects and contributors are still growing.

Graph illustrating the expected increase in tech industry sales during COVID-19, indicating that people will have more free-time.

IP based solutions are also being made and tested

An article on BloombergLaw discusses the efforts taken by IP-based companies in attempting to address such problems. The authors make it clear that the key to solving Coronavirus related problems will be “cooperation” and “collaboration,” meaning that traditional IP-based firms will need to work together using open source characteristics to effectively problem solve. Indeed, “intellectual property can incentivize or hinder companies as they race to respond to the coronavirus pandemic” (Woodmansee), and it will be difficult to figure out the extent of the effect that IP will have until the solutions are made.

But, we must acknowledge that any diagnostic test, treatment, or vaccine must be manufactured before public deployment. To produce such products quickly on a global (or even national) scale will require the resources of traditional IP-based companies, regardless of whether or not the solution is open-source based.

IP alone will not be enough to reach a solution as it often prevents the very cooperation and collaboration needed to problem solve and is typically dictated by profit-seeking motivations. Though the authors note they have “seen cooperation between government, academia, and industry, even among the fiercest competitors,” and are encouraged by the Open COVID Pledge Working Group which has “spearheaded a push to convince key players—from corporations and foundations to institutions and individuals—to permit all others to use their patents and IP under a free license” (Woodmansee), such efforts have not been met with the kind of widespread adoption that is needed to generate solutions.

But, there are some governmental intellectual property laws, strategies, and tools which might allow IP solutions to work, with the US government having already committed “hundreds of millions of dollars to US companies in an effort to develop treatments and vaccines through NIH grants and other sources” (Woodmansee). The government could use the Bayh-Dole Act to compel “the patent holder to grant a license under the patent(s) to others if a company fails to produce a product that has been developed using federal funds, or if it cannot produce sufficient quantities to reasonably satisfy the ‘health and safety needs’ of the US” (Woodmansee). This law has never been used.

For patents developed without federal funds, the administration could use the 28 U.S.C. §1498, which allows the government to use or manufacture a patented invention “without a license from the patent owner, provided the government gives ‘reasonable and entire compensation for such use’ to the patent owner” (Woodmansee). Thus, if an IP based company does end up finding a solution on their own, the government can take steps to ensure that it is made available to all.

The government can also “award tax incentives and extended patent protection to companies who develop products that test for, treat, and immunize against COVID-19” (Woodmansee), which is also a good motivator, especially in these economically uncertain times.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Though some solutions for COVID related issues will be most efficiently created and disseminated to the pubic through open source models (especially do-it-yourself solutions), implementing the most important and effective solutions-- test-kits, immunizations, cures, intensive medical devices, etc.-- will require big business to be involved in its production. And, in order to force big businesses to produce such products without seeking the highest possible profit, the government will need to provide incentives.

Ultimately, this is a global pandemic. As such, it will require collaboration across borders if we truly want to take the fastest route to finding a passage back to normalcy. In my opinion, the most efficient route to solving Coronavirus is through these three (simplified) steps:

1. Advance global knowledge of open source projects fighting Coronavirus through advertising intended to stimulate broader collaboration. This step is most critical: if more people know about these efforts, more thinkers will be collaborating to find solutions.

2. Once a solution is found and tested, it should be published as an open source solution, making reproduction available for companies all over the world.

3. A nation’s government will then motivate production of the product by corporations using one of its many intellectual property tools.

Bibliography

Woodmansee, Drew, and Catherine S Wicker. “INSIGHT: IP's Role in Covid-19 Tests, Treatments, and Vaccines.” Bloomberg BNA News, Apr. 2020, news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/insight-ips-role-in-covid-19-tests-treatments-and-vaccines.

Woodward, Martin, et al. “Open Collaboration on COVID-19.” The GitHub Blog, 30 Mar. 2020, github.blog/2020-03-23-open-collaboration-on-covid-19/.