The Open COVID Pledge Coalition recognizes and salutes efforts from around the world complementary to our own that also encourage the free sharing of patents and copyrights in an effort to diagnose, prevent, contain and treat COVID-19. Some of these efforts do not identify or license intellectual property directly but instead include calls to action and the adoption of statements of commitment to supporting COVID-19 work. In every case, the Coalition has determined that the overarching principles of these similar programs and initiatives align squarely with those reflected in the Pledge.One very important such effort is happening in Japan, where dozens of important Japanese technology companies and at least one university announced the free availability of their intellectual property in support of stopping the COVID-19 pandemic. Each agrees not to enforce their patents and copyrights related to the “diagnosis, prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19.” The founding companies include Ajinomoto Co. Inc., Canon, Chanel GK, Kyoto University’s Center for Genomic Medicine, Nissan, Toyota and Yahoo Japan, and many dozens more have since signed on. The designers of the Open COVID-19 Declaration have said that they were inspired by the Open COVID Pledge, and they have crafted their declaration to be consistent with the Pledge. We welcome this complementary effort to increase the number and range of technologies available to fight the global pandemic. More information and the group’s Open COVID-19 Declaration.
