**Copyright’s Role In Supporting Health And Safety During COVID-19**

Sharing Knowledge About Life-Saving Device Serves The Public Interest. In a blog about top engineers around the globe who are cooperating and sharing knowledge about medical technology, EFF highlights the importance of ensuring legal restrictions, like patents and copyrights, aren’t an obstacle to innovation. With research underway to find emergency alternatives to medical devices, like ventilators, the blog cites the Open COVID Pledge IP that owners sign promising not to assert patents or copyrights against a company or organization fighting COVID-19. The blog urges, “Decisions about how to adjust medical devices in the field should be made by engineering and medical professionals, not the attorney who filed for a patent on it.”

Emergency Ventilator Designs Made Available For Free On YouTube. A wireless technology company in Syracuse, New York, posted to YouTube its designs for an emergency-use ventilator so they are available for free to manufacturers around the globe. According to a Syracuse.com article, JMA collaborated with a local physician to develop the device which could help critically ill coronavirus patients and has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval of the device under its emergency use authorization program. The company could make several hundred of the ventilators a week at its plant which they would sell at cost to the state or federal governments.

Manufacturing Company Making 3D-Printed Masks For Employees. Fluid System Components in Green Bay, Wisconsin, produces machine parts for the manufacturing of toilet paper and diaper production. Now they are also making 3D-printed masks available for company workers and helping other companies make their own masks. In response to a company call for volunteers to help sew masks, two engineers approached their employer with the idea. Fluid System Components President Chad Trinkner explained why they are sharing the design: “It’s not proprietary. We don’t want a dime off of this. We just want people safer and healthier.”

MLA Compiles COVID-19 Resources For Medical Librarians & Health Professionals. Recognizing the important role that health sciences libraries play in making health information available, the Medical Library Association (MLA) has been posting a growing list of COVID-19 resources. The resources are all crowd-sourced suggestions from MLA members and other health information professionals on the front lines of providing information during the COVID-19 pandemic.