The objective of this conference is to provide practitioners with an
analysis of the relationship between competition law (Article 81 and 82
EC Treaty, block exemptions, joint ventures, distribution and
franchising agreements, licensing) and intellectual property law
(patent, copyright, trademarks, technology transfer, know-how, trade
secrets, litigation settlement agreement, etc.).
It is a long-standing principle that EC competition law can in no
manner affect the existence of IP rights, but that the conditions for
exercise of the latter must be in conformity with the requirements of
competition law. Over the last ten years intellectual property
protection has seen a growth in demand for registered rights, as well
as an expansion of its scope and a mutation of its nature.
The development of medical, data-processing and media techniques
reveals, besides the “traditional” intellectual property rights, the
need for more sophisticated forms of protection. Competition law has
also changed through its case law, its procedural modernisation by
Regulation
1/2003 - leading to an emphasis on block exemptions which
have substantially affected licensing - and a shift from legal analysis
to an economic-based approach to defining and assessing restrictions on
competition. As both areas of law developed and extended their scope of
application, it is not astonishing that intellectual property law is
regarded ever more through the prism of competition law.
The conference will also discuss proceedings involving intellectual property rights and competition law.