Competition Law and Intellectual Property Rights: Is the Property Rights’ Approach Right? (original) (raw)
Related papers
I examine in this study the intersection of intellectual property law (IP) with competition law. The property rights rhetoric has been instrumental in providing some degree of deference to IP rights. For some time, the values of IP and competition law were perceived to be in conflict: Whereas IP law focuses on the reqard of inventive effort and the inventor's incentives to innovate, by conferring an exclusive right on the use of the invention, competition law emphasises teh dissemination of innovation by ensuring diffusion and access. Circumstances have nevertheless evolved. Innovation became an objective of competition law and the relationship between the two disciplines is no longer antagonistic, but complementary. IP protection has also expanded considerably and is often granted to trivial inventions. This evolution challenges the usefulness of teh property rights approach, which aimed at defending IP rights against a disproportionate application of competition law. The property rights rhetoric does not contribute to the understanding of the need to balance incentives to innovation with that of enhancing cumulative innovation to teh benefit of teh consumers. It is static as it visualises IP and competition law in separate spheres, rendering more difficult the establishment of a dialectical relationship between the two. I argue that the conceptualization of IP as a form of regulation provides instead a more adequate theoretical framework as it enables a harmonious interaction between competition law and IP, while also taking into account, in assessing the appropriate levels of IP protection, the specific circumstances of each economic sector.
The Limitation of Intellectual Property in the Name of Competition
Intellectual property (“IP”) is often credited with providing an incentive for inventors to develop their creativity. Through IP protection, inventors can recoup their investment and make a profit. That idea, which has inspired legislators worldwide, is currently challenged in the European case law on competition. In the last twenty years, five cases have limited, in the name of competition, the possibility for firms to use IP rights acquired in conformity with applicable laws. These cases are examined in this Article. We analyze the scope of the emerging jurisprudence, and we investigate the arguments articulated, in support of their position, by the European instances involved.
Competition and intellectual property in the European Union
2006
This article shows how European courts have managed tensions between antitrust and intellectual protection in three areas: (1) Parallel imports and market segmentation; (2) Refusals to supply essential inputs protected by patents and copyrights; (3) Forms of conduct by copyright collectives.
New Challenges in the Intersection of Intellectual Property Rights with Competition Law
Skolkovo Foundation report, 2013
This report presents a critical discussion of the hot topics in the intersection of intellectual property law with innovation and competition law and policy. The report examines first the interaction between horizontal IP rules and sector specific IP regimes. It then delves into the analysis of the interface between competition law enforcement and IP rights in Europe and in the United States, before examining the doctrine of exhaustion in these jurisdictions, which is particularly interesting in view of some recent case law of the US Supreme Court. The final part of the study focuses on issues of governance of IP law and competition law and more generally the need for establishing cross-disciplinary links between these two areas of law and between the institutions in charge of their enforcement.
20. EU competition law and intellectual property
Contemporary Intellectual Property, 2019
This chapter provides an overview of the tension between the application of competition law and the exercise of IPRs. Key issues are the circumstances in which competition law may be applied to moderate the exercise of IPRs in the relevant market; clauses in intellectual property (IP) licensing agreements between undertakings that might be permissible in terms of EU competition law and those which are not; the conditions under which a refusal to supply products protected by an IP right might constitute an abuse of a dominant position by the right holder; and when competition law can provide a defence to an infringement action.
Intellectual Property and Competition Law: Understanding the Interplay
2018
This chapter focuses on the interface between Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and competition law. Exercising rights by the IPR holder in certain circumstances may attract the provisions of competition law especially when it has an adverse effect on consumer welfare or amounts to abuse of dominant position. IPR holders may also seek to protect themselves against unfair competition by exercising their rights and statutory remedies. This chapter provides a general overview of the interface between IPR and competition law with specific reference to sectors like the pharmaceuticals, information technology, luxury brands by providing an analysis of the potentially problematic agreements and practices from the point of view of the competition rules.
SSRN Electronic Journal
This book of CASES AND MATERIALS ON INNOVATION AND COMPETITION POLICY is intended for educational use. The book is free for all to use subject to an open source license agreement. It differs from IP/antitrust casebooks in that it considers numerous sources of competition policy in addition to antitrust, including those that emanate from the intellectual property laws themselves, and also related issues such as the relationship between market structure and innovation, the competitive consequences of regulatory rules governing technology competition such as net neutrality and interconnection, misuse, the first sale doctrine, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Chapters will be updated frequently. The author uses this casebook for a three-unit class in Innovation and Competition Policy taught at the University of Iowa College of Law and available to first year law students as an elective. This document is Chapter One of a complete revision, now the second edition, covering...
Intellectual Property, Competition and Human Rights: the past, the present and the future
SCRIPT-ed, 2005
We were delighted that Professor Paul Geroski, then Chairman of the UK Competition Commission, was able to join us for our expert working group meeting in December 2004. Paul's contribution to our proceedings was excellent. He was engaged and informed and made valuable contributions to our debateprovoking and stimulating input from the participants. It was the first time that many of us had met Paul. With his warm and engaging personality we had firm hopes that Paul would become a regular member of our group. Sadly that was not to be. As will be known to many readers, Paul died in the summer of 2005. We dedicate this collection of papers, to which he contributed, to his memory.