EC Competition Law and Intellectual Property Rights

A discussion about the tension between intellectual property and competition law which demonstrates that EC competition law must provide a set of outer limits to, and a framework of rules which regulate the exploitaton and licensing of intellectual property rights.

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Although EC competition law in recent years has dramatically demonstrated its capacity to regulate the exercise of intellectual property rights (IPRs), IPR specialists continue to argue that it should defer to IPR legislation in the interests of innovation. Anderman argues against such an approach and demonstrates how, both under the EC Treaty and as a matter of economic policy, EC competition law must provide a set of outer limits to, and a framework of rules which regulates, the exploitation and licensing of IPRs. This book provides a template of the EC competition law rules as they relate to IPRs; it explores how such a template can be applied to existing IPRs and adapted to new technologies such as telecommunications and information technology. This ambitious book will be welcomed by practitioners and academics alike as a considerable advance in our understanding of the fundamental ways in which competition law is changing conceptual approaches to the law of intellectual property. It offers the basis for new legal argument and will be recognized as a significant contribution to legal and regulatory reform.
This book is intended for competiton and IP lawyers, both practitioners and academics.