Intellectual Property and Competition Law - IPRsonline.org

ICTSD Programme on IPRs and Sustainable Developmentan intellectual property right to a third party may be deemed anti-competitive practice. Third, itconsiders anti-competitive practices arising from the acquisition and enforcement of intellectualproperty rights. Fourth, the use of compulsory licences to remedy anti-competitive practices isexamined. Fifth, the paper addresses a number of state interventions that determine key aspects oftheir competition policies.Given the limited experience existing in developing countries in the application of competition policiesin general, and more specifically, in addressing the relationship between competition law and IPRs,this paper relies heavily on precedents from developed countries. Although the doctrines, legislationand jurisprudence found in these countries should be adapted to the specific contexts of developingcountries, they allow us to draw some useful lessons for policy-making in this area.It is also to be noted that Article 40 of the TRIPS Agreement specifically provides for the possibilityof regulating restrictive practices in licensing agreements. This is crucial to ensure the right balancebetween competition and the protection of IPRs. This paper, however, does not specifically addressthis issue as there is abundant literature on national experiences on the matter, as well as on theinterpretation of Article 40 of the TRIPS Agreement and the legal approaches that developing countriesmay adopt. 13