On 26th April 2019, Llinks lawyer Xun Yang was invited by Everpro to speak on a seminar on the topic of Administration of Generic Resources and Data, which seminar was attended by in-house counsels from life science and pharmaceutical companies.
During the speech, Yang Esq. introduced the administration regime for collecting, gathering, using, exporting, and transmitting generic resources and related data from the following three aspects: (i) licensing and regulatory approvals by Heritage Office; (ii) the cyber security and privacy requirements; and (iii) state secret protections. In particular, Yang Esq. discussed the legal principles and practices about formulating a reasonable research plan, seeking subjects' informed consent, and sharing rights from using generic resources and data among participating parties. Among others, Yang Esq. pointed out that, although the law requires that the parties jointly own the patent and other IP from the generic researches, joint ownership is the least preferable option from an IP law aspect and, in practice, as far as the sharing of rights is reasonable and reciprocal and the parties are able to enjoy the benefits they can reasonably expect, the IP sharing requirements are deemed to be satisfied.
Yang Esq. also answered questions raised by the audience and explained in details the issues in which the audience were interested, including, among others, how to define the scope of research projects which require approvals by the Heritage Office and how to engage third parties in the research (including the outsource of IT functions).
Xun Yang's speech was well received by the audience. Generic technology has been developing fast during the last ten years, which gives rise to the gene economy. Better compliance, better protections of IP rights, and better security measures on data contribute to successful research in generic areas.
