Intellectual Property and the Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 pandemic is the greatest challenge facing our generation. In the face of this situation, different media have reported a worldwide laboratory race to create a vaccine against the virus or develop drugs to alleviate or treat the disease

In general, this type of treatment is protected by patents, a mechanism giving owners an exclusive right to the invention, with the freedom to set prices for their access and limiting the use by others.

In the spirit of continuing the reflection and analysis of intellectual property in the country and the world in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Externado Intellectual Property Department invites to the Webinar.

Guest Panelists:

Luisa Herrera Sierra

Externado de Colombia University Law graduate, with a Master’s in Intellectual Property Law (LLM) from the Queen Mary University of London, and a research tenure at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, in Munich. Author of several publications, co-author of the book “Derecho de Patentes” (Patent Law) and author of the book “El derecho de la competencia y las licencias Frand: Herramientas para el acceso a invenciones” (Competition Law and Frand licenses: Tools to access inventions). She is experienced in different areas of law, such as Intellectual Property, Entertainment Law, Unfair Competition Law, Restrictive Competition Practices, Commercial, and Insurance. Since 2013, she has taught subjects relating to Contractual Law and Intellectual Property.

Currently, she acts as a Professor Researcher at the Externado de Colombia University Intellectual Property Department. She is a Partner and Coordinator of the Intellectual Property Area of the HERRERA ABOGADOS & ASOCIADOS Law Firm.

Oscar Lizarazo Cortés

Associate professor (full time) at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia – UNAL. (Associate researcher before MinCiencias). Director of the Plebio-UNAL research group (B before

MinCiencias). UNAL Postgraduate Private Economic Law Academic Coordinator. He is a Law PhD candidate, Specialist in Administrative Law, and a Universidad Nacional de Colombia-UNAL Law graduate. He has a Master’s in IP (Law, Innovation, Communication, Culture with emphasis on Intellectual Property) from the Universities Paris-Sud XI and Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne. Also, he is a member of the UNAL Center for Intellectual Property Thought projects and the Center for Medicine, Information, and Power Thought.

Carolina Gómez

An attorney with extensive experience in pharmaceutical policy. She is a Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) Law graduate with a Master’s in Law from the University of California, Berkeley. She has served as an advisor to the General Office of INVIMA (Colombian health agency) and the office of the Minister of Health. She was the Director of Medications and Medical Devices at the Colombian Ministry of Health, and founder of the Center for Thought “Medicines, Information, and Power” of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, where she currently works.

Carlos Augusto Conde Gutiérrez

Externado de Colombia University Law graduate, MA in Biotechnology, Law, and Ethics, MPhil in Law and PhD from the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom). Currently, he is a professor researcher at the Externado University Intellectual Property Department and a consultant on patents, new technologies, pharmaceutical regulation, and genetic resources regulation.