Petition calls for WTO to suspend patent rules for COVID vaccines

More than 900,000 people have signed a petition -- delivered to the World Trade Organization on Wednesday -- asking WTO members to ensure universal access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines by suspending patent rules. The petition, organized by the online activist organization Avaaz, was delivered to the WTO one day before the Council for Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights is set to convene to discuss a pandemic-focused proposal that would temporarily waive intellectual property obligations on copyright, industrial designs, patents and...