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Narrowing the Gaps in Global Disputes: the Case of Counterfeits in Kenya

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Abstract

This article investigates the nature and potential trajectories of global disputes. Conventional accounts of global disputes often see them as inherently open-ended so that actors can always roll back previous defeats; alternatively, path-dependent accounts emphasize the likelihood of those who prevail in early struggles to reproduce their advantaged position. Like path-dependent accounts, I argue that disputes are nested, so that the goals and possible outcomes of new disputes are bounded by the results of earlier disputes—but rather than enlarging the gap between the parties to the dispute by reproducing advantages, nested disputes, on the contrary, lead to the narrowing of positions and to lower stakes. I illustrate this argument by describing two constitutive moments in the debate over intellectual property rights in Kenya: first, the debate around the Industrial Property Act over the exceptions to intellectual property rights; second, the debate around the Anti-Counterfeit Act over whether anti-counterfeit measures should apply to medicines.

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Notes

  1. Earlier versions of this paper were introduced in the “Access to Medicines in the Global South” workshop at Brown University; “The Future of Democracy After Neoliberalism: Social Movements in a Globalizing World” workshop at the University of Tokyo; and “Global Diffusion” workshop at Princeton University. I would like to thank all of the participants for their valuable comments, including Kenneth Shadlen, Peter Evans, Andreas Wimmer, and Takeshi Wada.

  2. Compulsory licensing allows the government, without the consent of the patent holder, to grant a license to a third-party manufacturer to commercialize a patented invention; government use allows the government, without the consent of the patent holder, to make direct use of the patent; parallel importation allows for the purchase of a patented drug from a legitimate third party (Musungu and Oh 2006).

  3. Products are falsely labeled if they provide wrong information on the label with regard to the content, date of manufacture, place of manufacture, or date of expiry; products are spurious drugs if contrary to the label they contain no active ingredient or a wrong active ingredient or an insufficient amount of active ingredient; substandard drugs are low-quality drugs caused by poor manufacturing practices, poor transportation techniques or poor storage facilities.

  4. http://www.who.int/medicines/services/counterfeit/impact/ImpactF_S/en/index1.html.

  5. Differentiating between counterfeits and substandard drugs is essential because the legal means required to prevent substandard drugs from reaching the market are very different from the means recommended against counterfeits.

  6. Interview by the author with Ahmed Mohamed (PPB), May 29, 2012.

  7. Interview by the author with Beijing-Holley Cotec in Kenya, May 25, 2012; interview by the author with Omaera, May 22, 2012

  8. Interview by the author with Christa Cepuch (HAI & MSF), Kenya, May 24, 2012.

  9. Interview by the author with Gichinga Ndirangu (HAI), Kenya, June 7, 2012.

  10. Interview by the author with Wilberforce O. Wanyanga, Kenya, May 29, 2012.

  11. Interview by the author with Peter Munyi (HAI), Kenya, June 21, 2012.

  12. Interview by the author with Gichinga Ndirangu (HAI), Kenya, June 7, 2012.

  13. Interview by the author with Wilberforce O. Wanyanga, Kenya, May 29, 2012.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Interview by the author with Gichinga Ndirangu (HAI), Kenya, June 7, 2012; interview by the author with Wilberforce O. Wanyanga, Kenya, May 29, 2012.

  17. Interview by the author with Gichinga Ndirangu (HAI), Kenya, June 7, 2012.

  18. Interview by the author with Wilberforce O. Wanyanga, May 29, 2012, Siringi 2001a.

  19. Interview by the author with Gichinga Ndirangu (HAI), Kenya, June 7, 2012.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Interview by the author with Christa Cepuch (HAI & MSF), Kenya, May 24, 2012; interview by the author with David Njuguna (KIPI), Kenya, May 24, 2012.

  22. Interview by the author with Rakesh Vinayak (Surgipharm), Kenya, May 21, 2012; interview by the author with Anastasia Nyalita (Bayer), Kenya, May 23, 2012.

  23. Interview by the author with Kamamia Wa Murichu (KPDA), Kenya, June 5, 2012; interview by the author with Ravi Menon (Jubilant), Kenya, June 11, 2012.

  24. Interview by the author with Rakesh Vinayak (Surgipharm), Kenya, May 21, 2012.

  25. Interview by the author with Anastasia Nyalita (Bayer), Kenya, May 23, 2012.

  26. http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/intellectual_property/info.service/2009/twn.ipr.info.090101.htm

  27. Interview by the author with Gichinga Ndirangu (HAI), Kenya, June 7, 2012.

  28. Ibid.

  29. Interview by the author with Wariara Mugo (MSF), Kenya, May 23, 2012.

  30. Message from Christa Cepuch and Peter Munyi (HAI) to [IP-Health] available at http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/ip-health/2009-January/013355.html

  31. Message from Christa Cepuch (HAI) to [IP-Health] available at http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/ip-health/2008-September/013036.html

  32. Ibid.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Interview by the author with William M. K. Mwatu (GSK), Kenya, May 28, 2012; Interview by the author with Ahmed Mohamed (PPB), May 29, 2012.

  36. Interview by the author with William M. K. Mwatu (GSK), Kenya, May 28, 2012.

  37. Interview by the author with Ahmed Mohamed (PPB), May 29, 2012.

  38. Message from Christa Cepuch and Peter Munyi (HAI) to [IP-Health] available at http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/ip-health/2009-January/013355.html

  39. Interview by the author with Christa Cepuch (HAI & MSF), Kenya, May 24, 2012.

  40. Message from Christa Cepuch and Peter Munyi (HAI) to [IP-Health] available at http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/ip-health/2009-January/013355.html; MSF 2010.

  41. Interview by the author with Christa Cepuch (HAI & MSF), Kenya, May 24, 2012; interview by the author with Wilberforce O. Wanyanga, Kenya, May 29, 2012.

  42. Interview by the author with Christa Cepuch (HAI & MSF), Kenya, May 24, 2012.

  43. Interview by the author with Moses Mwangi (KAPI), Kenya, May 18, 2012; interview by the author with William M. K. Mwatu (GSK), Kenya, May 28, 2012.

  44. Interview by the author with Christa Cepuch (HAI & MSF), Kenya, May 24, 2012.

  45. Ibid.

  46. Ibid.

  47. Interview by the author with Moses Mwangi (KAPI), Kenya, May 18, 2012.

  48. Interview by the author with Peter Munyi (HAI), Kenya, June 21, 2012.

  49. Interview by the author with Peter Hime (Kaplan & Stratton law firm), Kenya, June 18, 2012.

  50. KELIN website (http://kelinkenya.org/2012/04/judgment-on-generic-medicines-kenya%E2%80%99s-first-victory-on-the-right-to-health/)

  51. Ibid.

  52. Interview by the author with Christa Cepuch (HAI & MSF), Kenya, May 24, 2012.

  53. Interview by the author with Peter Hime (Kaplan & Stratton law firm), Kenya, June 18, 2012.

  54. However, we should be mindful of the fact that while multinational pharmaceutical companies were heavily involved in lobbying for TRIPS (Sell 2003), health activists’ mobilization against TRIPS started in earnest only with the development of effective anti-AIDS medications, after TRIPS had already been signed.

  55. Of course, there are ways by which parties can capture but then distort otherwise laudable goals. One could argue therefore that the warnings against counterfeit drugs—just like the warnings against generic drugs earlier on—were nothing but a façade. Still, pretending to be concerned with safety does have the outcome, even if unintended, of improving quality standards of drugs.

  56. The petitioners “submitted that Article 51 of [TRIPS] limits the use of the term ‘counterfeiting’ to counterfeit trademark goods; that the TRIPS Agreement forms part of Kenyan law in line with the provisions of Article 2 of the Constitution of Kenya; that the term ‘counterfeit’ as used in the Act goes beyond its internationally accepted legal meaning.”

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  1. Department of Sociology and Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA

    Nitsan Chorev

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ᅟ Studies on counterfeit and substandard drugs in Kenya
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Chorev, N. Narrowing the Gaps in Global Disputes: the Case of Counterfeits in Kenya. St Comp Int Dev 50, 157–186 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-015-9183-5

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