Author Bio: Wan Yong is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Renmin Law School, and a researcher at the Renmin Law and Technology Institute.

Abstract: The relationship between intellectual property and public health can be summarized as a dual relationship of promotion and hindrance at the institutional level, and it can be typified into three forms at the rights level: recognition, conflict, and cooperation. Traditional perspectives hold that intellectual property and public health rights are a matter of recognition, advocating that intellectual property rights should not be restricted on the grounds of public health rights. Alternatively, some argue that the two are in conflict. Consequently, three approaches have been proposed to address public health crises: anti-drug patent models, compulsory licensing models, and intellectual property waiver models. However, these approaches only provide temporary solutions. China should take a dialectical approach to the relationship between intellectual property and public health, adopting a comprehensive solution that combines both symptomatic and fundamental treatment. This involves establishing a systemic drug patent linkage system and a scientific drug patent compulsory licensing system, which can respond to the legitimacy crisis of intellectual property while effectively dealing with public health crises. The Chinese approach emphasizes distributive justice as its fundamental principle and prioritizes both symptomatic and fundamental treatment. To achieve this, further improvement is needed from the perspectives of theoretical foundation, institutional basis, and practical pathways.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, public health crisis, distributive justice, compulsory licensing, intellectual property waiver.