Parallel Trade in the Exhaustion Doctrine in Intellectual Property Law: Implications for Access to Medicines

This paper takes a look at the vexed issues of exhaustion of intellectual property rights and parallel importation and the extent to which these can actually be expedient in facilitating access to medicines in the developing world. It examines the legal framework for exhaustion of rights in public international law and how it relates to the idea of parallel importation (otherwise known as parallel trade). It equally considers the concept of geographical differential pricing which strikes to achieve market segmentation by ensuring that goods are charged according to the purchasmg powers of a given market. The paper highlights the emerging conflicts between the concept of parallel importation and the differential pricing phenomenon as well as the role of competition policy in addressing the access to medicines conundrum in developmg countries. The implication of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement for parallel trade in pharmaceuticals is briefly examined and the paper concludes by arguing that parallel trade is an important mechanIsm for making medicines available at cheaper rates and governments all over the world should endeavour to put a restraint on adopting measures that would frustrate it.