Part I Introduction and Recent Developments, 1 Antitrust and Patent Law

Subject(s):

European Union — Copyright — Rights — Royalties — Technology transfer agreements — United States

This chapter sets out the book’s main purpose, which is to serve all of those interested in the application of antitrust law to technology. There is an intricate relationship between competition law and the patent system. The difficulty stems from the patent regime’s efforts to accommodate new technologies that are heterogeneous and respond to different innovation incentives. Policymakers increasingly call on competition law to ameliorate problems that are a function of patent law, making it important for practitioners in this space to understand both antitrust and patent law at a substantive level. Further, as antitrust–patent law is an international affair, this book explores the world’s most important competition regimes: the United States and European Union. It discusses the unique challenges accompanying antitrust in the new economy; outlines differences between EU and US antitrust regimes; and explains why antitrust analysis of patent issues is more complex than most objects of competition policy.