On Thursday 22 May, negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU Council reached an initial agreement on one of the texts in the patent package: compulsory licences. These allow a company to use a patent without its holder’s authorisation in emergency situations. The issue of compulsory licences came to the fore at the time of the Covid-19 vaccine crisis. The mechanism already exists at national level, but a European licence issued by the Commission will avoid fragmentation when...