2020-2021 University technology transfer during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Dear University of York,

This is a new request that is related to on a FOI request we sent in October 2020. This previous request was titled: Licensing and patenting practices of COVID-19 technologies. This new request specifically asks for responses pertaining to the time period September 2020-October 2021, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, unless specified otherwise. Please can you make sure you reply to all 9 questions of the request, and clarify where it is not possible for you to release information citing a specific clause of the Freedom Of Information Act (2000).

For the purpose of clarity, please adhere to the following definitions when answering these questions:

Low and middle income country: A country that is defined as ‘low’, ‘lower-middle’ and ‘upper-middle’ income by the World Bank for the year 2018. Income status defined by GNI per capita.
Source: World bank, available online [https://tinyurl.com/y5dwc2qv]

A patent grants an inventor the exclusive rights to his or her invention. A patent holder can stop other people from selling, manufacturing, producing, or using the invention for a certain period of time.
Source: Upcouncil, available online [https://www.upcounsel.com/what-is-a-pate...

Licence: Permission for the licensee to use the intellectual property rights
Source: TaylorWessing, available online [https://www.taylorwessing.com/download/a...
Exclusive Licence: A licence that allows only the named licensee to exploit the relevant IP rights, the licensor is also excluded from exploiting these IP rights.

Non-Exclusive Licence: A licence that grants any number of licensees to exploit the IP.
Source: TaylorWessing, available online [https://www.taylorwessing.com/synapse/co...

Health Technology: ‘Health technology as defined by the WHO: “A health technology is the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives.’
Source: WHO, available online [https://www.who.int/health-technology-as...

START FOI request:
Q1. Can you release your internal strategy, policy, or any kind of public statement regarding the technology transfer (e.g. licensing, patenting) of COVID-19 related health technologies?

Q2. Does the institution have a formal policy on licensing and patenting of health technologies? If yes, please provide a link or PDF to the relevant policy document.

Q3. Has the university considered updating their strategy regarding the licensing and patenting of health technologies since October 2021 in light of the pandemic?

Q4. Please provide an Excel spreadsheet with headings as displayed below with all the COVID-19 related health technologies LICENSED by the university AND specify which countries they were licensed in AND specify whether they are exclusive or non-exclusive licenses (time period: September 2020-October 2021).
Health Technology Licensed | Country of Licensing | Type of License (Exclusive or Non-Exclusive)

Q5. Please provide a list of patents granted to your organization for any COVID-19 related health technologies listed by patent family, indicating countries/regions in which the patent has been granted (time period: September 2020-October 2021).

Q6. Does the institution have any plans on signing up to the Open-COVID pledge (https://opencovidpledge.org/) or any similar initiative that seeks to minimise intellectual property rights barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic(since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with Open-COVID pledge, please provide files related to these meetings.

Q7. Has the institution considered the licensing of COVID-19 related health technologies to the Covid Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) or the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) during the pandemic (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with either C-TAP and/or MPP please provide files related to these meetings.

Q8. Has the institution signed on to the AUTM COVID-19 Licensing Guidelines (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with AUTM on these guidelines please provide files related to these meetings.

Q9. Has the institution with the WHO technology transfer hub during the pandemic (since January 2020)? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with the WHO technology transfer hub please provide files related to these meetings.

Q10. Has the institution shared their best practices on the technology transfer of COVID-19 health technologies with other institutions? If yes, please specify. If the university has engaged in specific discussions with other universities on COVID-19 health technologies in the context of technology transfer, please provide files related to these meetings.

END FOI request.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Yours faithfully,

Sarai Keestra

Freedom of Information, University of York

Dear Sarai Keestra,
Freedom of Information Request Ref: F21_467
I acknowledge receipt of your email dated 17 October 2021 requesting
information from the University of York.
Please be advised that the University will respond as soon as possible and
in any event by 12 November 2021. 
Yours sincerely, 
Information Governance Team | Legal Services

University of York 

[1]Email disclaimer

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Freedom of Information, University of York

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Dear Sarai Keestra,
Freedom of Information Request Ref: F21_467
Thank you for your request for information from the University of York.
Please see our response, which is attached to this email.
I hope this information is useful. 
Yours sincerely,
Information Governance Team | Legal Services

University of York 

[1]Email disclaimer
On Tue, 19 Oct 2021 at 08:22, Freedom of Information <[2][University of York request email]>
wrote:

Dear Sarai Keestra,
Freedom of Information Request Ref: F21_467
I acknowledge receipt of your email dated 17 October 2021 requesting
information from the University of York.
Please be advised that the University will respond as soon as possible
and in any event by 12 November 2021. 
Yours sincerely, 
Information Governance Team | Legal Services

University of York 

[3]Email disclaimer

show quoted sections