1st Edition

Intellectual Property Rights and Competition in Standard Setting Objectives and tensions

By Valerio Torti Copyright 2016
    276 Pages
    by Routledge

    276 Pages
    by Routledge

    Competition and intellectual property rights (IPRs) are both necessary for a market to work efficiently and to promote consumer welfare. Properly applied, intellectual property rules define a legal framework which allows undertakings to profit from their inventions. This in turn encourages competition among firms and enhances dynamic efficiency, to the benefit of consumer welfare. Standard setting represents one of the fields where the interaction between competition law and IPRs clearly comes to light. The collaborative goal of standard setting organizations (SSOs) is to adopt and promote standards that either do not conflict with anyone’s right or, if they do, are developed under condition that patents are licensed under defined terms.

    This book examines the tension between IPRs and competition in the standard setting field which can arise when innovators over-exploit the rights they have been granted and hold up an entire industry. The book compares EU and U.S. jurisdictions with a particular focus on the IT and telecommunication sectors. It scrutinizes those practices which could harm standard setting and its goals, looking at misleading conducts by SSOs’ members which may lead to breach the EU and U.S. antitrust provisions on abuse of market power. Recent developments in EU and U.S. standard setting are analysed highlighting the differences in enforcement approaches. The book considers how the optimal balance between IPRs and industry standards can be struck, suggesting a policy model which takes into account both innovators’ interests and SSOs’ goals.

    Part One - IPRs, Competition and the Standards  Chapter One  The Objectives of Competition Law  Chapter Two  Goals of IP Law and Interplay with Competition  Chapter Three  IPRs and Standard Setting: Functions and Rules  Part Two – Anticompetitive Conduct and Standardization  Chapter Four  The Interaction IPRs – Competition in Standard Setting  Chapter Five  The U.S. Approach in the Standards - Market Power Dichotomy  Chapter Six  Abuse of Dominance in Standard Setting - the EU Approach  Part Three - Reconciling IPRs and Competition in Standard Setting  Chapter Seven Suggested Model and Enforcement 

    General Conclusions

    Biography

    Valerio Torti is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Law & Business of the National University of Singapore.