Patent Protection Should Take a Backseat in a Crisis

With essential medical equipment in short supply these days, doctors have been doing everything they can to get what they need to keep treating coronavirus patients. One team of Italian physicians hit on the idea of making up for a shortfall of valves used in CPAP hoods -- used to give oxygen to patients -- by using a 3D printer to make their own. This worked, but the company that manufactures the valves wasn't happy and may have had grounds to sue for patent infringement. Suing doctors in the midst of a pandemic isn’t a good look, and the company quickly clarified that it wasn’t planning on taking the doctors to court -- indeed, it has been making the parts available for free to medical practitioners on the front lines.

But the underlying question is real: What happens when the coronavirus emergency bumps up against intellectual-property law? Most medical technology is heavily protected by patents, which give companies the legal right to block others from producing the same or similar goods.