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ON THE face of it, developing nations scored a victory last week at the World
Trade Organization talks in Qatar, by getting the rich world to loosen its grip,
just slightly, on the patent rights to lifesaving drugs. The way seems clear for
people in these countries to receive those drugs at an affordable price. Or is
it? Poor countries were allowed to make cheap copies of patented drugs even
before last week. They didn’t do it, because industrialised countries threatened
them with trade sanctions and lawsuits. Now it will be more difficult for the
rich nations to act the…