Episode 19. The Ocean, Patents and Pandemics: Where science, law, and economics meet
Tuesday 10 June 2025
This episode explores the role of patent law in our interconnected world. Professor Susan Marks and Dr Siva Thambisetty discuss Siva's work ranging from taking part in treaty negotiations for The BBNJ Agreement to her efforts during the COVID-19 Pandemic to help secure greater access to vaccines which would otherwise be hindered through patent law. The final part of this episode features Siva's critique of the 'routinised use of equity' as a fallback mechanism during treaty negotiations and how the reliance on 'equity' in this context may not actually do much to procure equitable outcomes.