Arezzo, Emanuela --- "Competition law as an instrument of IP regulation? The case of strategic patent filings" [2015] ELECD 1225; in Drexl, Josef; Di Porto, Fabiana (eds), "Competition Law as Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 341

Book Title: Competition Law as Regulation

Editor(s): Drexl, Josef; Di Porto, Fabiana

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783472581

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Competition law as an instrument of IP regulation? The case of strategic patent filings

Author(s): Arezzo, Emanuela

Number of pages: 24

Abstract/Description:

As many have recently observed, competition law enforcement seems to be somehow merging into a form of market regulation. This is surely true as far as innovation is concerned. Indeed, competition law has progressively acquired the role of an IP ‘watchdog’, with the mission of curtailing the scope and use of IP rights in cases where their exploitation seems to worsen rather than promote innovation. This chapter argues that the shaping of a common core of guiding principles concerning the intersection of competition law and intellectual property rights in the area of unilateral practices has become a necessity considering that not only has the number of abusive practices involving the use of IPRs recently increased, but also that new kinds of practices have emerged, posing increasingly complex issues to analyse. Among such new practices, this work will focus on the conduct of so-called strategic patent filings, pursued by dominant firms for the purpose of keeping competitors off the market.