Fujitsu announces free access to patents, utility models to help fight pandemic
20 May 2020
Japanese ICT company Fujitsu Limited has just committed to the Open COVID Pledge https://opencovidpledge.org/, becoming the latest business enterprise to do so.
By committing to the Pledge, the company is making its intellectual property assets available for use for free in global initiatives to fight the novel coronavirus Covid-19.
Fujitsu has around 40,000 patents, utility models, and design patents, granted and pending, connected with drug development and patient care delivery. These assets may now be used by researchers and scientists in developing products and tools that will help fight the pandemic without legal obstructions.
The Open COVID Pledge reads:
“Immediate action is required to halt the COVID-19 Pandemic and treat those it has affected. It is a practical and moral imperative that every tool we have at our disposal be applied to develop and deploy technologies on a massive scale without impediment.
We therefore pledge to make our intellectual property available free of charge for use in ending the COVID-19 pandemic and minimizing the impact of the disease.
We will implement this pledge through a license that details the terms and conditions under which our intellectual property is made available.”
Fujitsu joins Facebook, Amazon, Intel, Facebook, Microsoft, Uber, AT & T and other companies in making the pledge and releasing their IP for free access.
The Open COVID Pledge was created by the Open COVID Coalition, an international team of lawyers and scientists, to provide a framework for companies, organizations and universities around the world to make their IP assets available for use in efforts to curb the health crisis.
Fujitsu also declared its involvement with the Open COVID-19 Declaration, a Japan-based initiative with a similar objective.
Espie Angelica A. de Leon
