Curley, Duncan --- "Balancing Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law in a Dynamic, Knowledge-Based European Economy" [2006] ELECD 332; in Pugatch, Perez Meir (ed), "The Intellectual Property Debate" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: The Intellectual Property Debate

Editor(s): Pugatch, Perez Meir

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845420383

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Balancing Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law in a Dynamic, Knowledge-Based European Economy

Author(s): Curley, Duncan

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

12. Balancing intellectual property
rights and competition law in a
dynamic, knowledge-based
European economy
Duncan Curley

INTRODUCTION

The creation of a favourable climate for technological innovation is a criti-
cal component of the drive to make the European Union the world's leading
knowledge-based economy by 2010.1 A strong, harmonized and affordable
system of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is intended to underpin this
policy objective, in recognition of the need to incentivize industry to under-
take the necessary investment in research and development.2
Although IPRs vary, they are fundamentally monopoly or quasi-
monopoly rights. They confer a statutory period during which the propri-
etor has a legal right to prevent others from carrying out certain acts (such
as making, selling and importing products) that fall within the ambit of the
granted monopoly. Patents and copyright are two examples of IPRs that
will be specifically referred to later in this chapter; others include design
rights, trademarks, database rights and plant variety rights.
The effect of IPRs may be of concern to those responsible for safe-
guarding European consumers from the improper use of monopoly
power. It is the European Commission which bears the principal responsi-
bility for regulating the conduct of undertakings on European markets, by
enforcing EC competition law, as laid down in particular in Articles 81 and
82 of the EC Treaty, and by formulating competition policy. It is of course
important for undertakings operating on European markets to understand
how (if at all) EC ...