Fujitsu makes Open COVID Pledge
Technology company Fujitsu has joined the “Open COVID Pledge”, offering up a portfolio of approximately 40,000 issued and pending patents, utility models, and design patents related to the development of new drugs and patient care.
The “Open COVID Pledge”—an initiative urging companies to free their IP to help fight the pandemic—has gained traction since its launch in late March.
Intel joined the pledge as a founding sponsor in early April, and other companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Microsoft, and Sandia National Laboratories followed suit.
Earlier this month, sister site LSIPR reported that California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) had made its respirator designs available for free and signed up to the IP sharing scheme. JPL is owned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and operated by the California Institute of Technology.
In early May, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) became the first university to sign the pledge, making its novel test swab technology widely available free of licensing fees.
Fujitsu has also committed to a similar initiative in Japan, the “ COVID-19 Countermeasure Declaration”.
Founded by Canon, Toyota and nearly 20 others, including Nikon, Nissan, Yahoo Japan Corp and Kyoto University, the parties have pledged not to enforce their patents and other IP rights against any activities aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.
“Through its commitment to these pledges, Fujitsu will contribute decisively to an early end to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic ... and actively promote cross-industry utilisation by companies and research institutions around the world in the spirit of global cooperation and human-centric innovation,” said Fujitsu.
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Fujitsu makes Open COVID Pledge
