On 3rd September 2021, Dr Aisling McMahon & Dr Edana Richardson presented a paper at the international Society of Legal Scholars conference 2021. Their paper was entitled ‘Patents, Corporate Decision-Making and Shareholders’ and was presented at a panel on Intellectual Property - Innovation and health crises.
This paper brought together Dr McMahon and Dr Richardson’s expertise on intellectual property and company law, respectively, to consider the drivers steering companies’ behaviour over uses of patented health-technologies, taking the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. It examined the legal and institutional drivers influencing corporate use and licensing of patented health technologies, and considered the role that engaged shareholder actions can play in shifting corporate behaviour towards considering public interests at stake in this context.
Dr McMahon and Dr Richardson are both Assistant Professors at Maynooth University Department of Law. Dr McMahon’s research focuses primarily on intellectual property law and health law. Dr Richardson’s research examines corporate activity, capital markets law, Islamic finance law and sustainable finance