Intellectual Property Rights And Competition Law - 1304 Words

AIM Critical analysis on when the use of intellectual property rights turns into abuse of intellectual property rights and further analysis on the trend of European competition authorities towards Intellectual property rights with specific reference to what is reiterated in the Magill cases. Introduction Intellectual property rights and competition law both seem to intervene at different junctures; however they work for attainment of one common goal that is consumer welfare. The reasons for this contravention in most cases is that the reward given to creators and innovators is the right to use and exclude others whereas when these rights are abused , competition law comes into the scene. So there has always been a tiff between the both,†¦show more content†¦This essay firstly for a better understanding deal with what is intellectual property and what constitutes intellectual property rights and then briefly deals with the competition policy and European Union competition law and then analyse the conflict between intellectual property and competition law and what are the common goals which both seeks to achieve and later deals with interface of both within the legislation and then we will critically analyse the concept of abuse of intellectual property rights as this is main conflict which revolves between both and further analyse this concept in depth with the help of case study on the Magill cases and the trend followed by the courts after that. 1. Intellectual Property For much of human history the concept of intellectual property did not exist however due to the wide spread progress and extension of international trade need for protection of intellectual property is felt and this led to the â€Å" Paris Convention for protection of industrial property† followed by Berne Convention and which led to the establishment of World Intellectual Property Organisation. Intellectual property in common parlance means property other than physical property which is a result of human intellect. 1.1 Intellectual Property Rights Are those which guarantee and grants certain rights to the creator of the intellectual property for a certain period of time. Intellectual property rights can be classified into copyrights and related rights,