EU Competition Law and its Impact on IPRs

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) provide owners with a select legal right to take advantage of the copyright, patent, trade mark, design, or any other intellectual related property. The owner of the IPRs has the monopoly of unilaterally determining whether to use exploit the intellectual property of confer the right to third parties through licensing. On analysis of IPRs and competition, it seems to affect in three ways. Firstly, IPRs is likely to encourage the anticompetitive uses of the rights if the rights are strong. Secondly, competition norms that strive to improve competition may reduce the incentives for innovation. Lastly, it is possible to resolve the tensions between competition and IPRs by acknowledging competition norms and their impact in shaping intellectual property rights and vice versa. This book deals with an analysis of competition law and IPRs within the European Union (EU).