Tensions Between Intellectual Property and Competition Law:Historical Development and Reflections on its Evolution
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26422/RIPI.2025.2300.bugKeywords:
intellectual property, competition, competition law, competition defence, antitrust law, consumer welfare, national competition authorities, technological innovationAbstract
The exercise of intellectual property rights can generate anti-competitive effects in accordance with the prohibitions established in competition law, specifically in the antitrust law. Both branches of law present similarities and differences that require an analysis of each different case. International and national regulations do not establish a specific solution. Jurisprudence and doctrine since the beginning of the 20th century have had to define such situations in the light of competition law. This has generated a series of basically North American and European sentences that still do not provide a stable pattern of tendency in the consideration of the different cases. This evolution is analyzed by mentioning a limited selection of judgments, as well as some of the methodologies applicable in the different positions of the existing experiences. We refer both to typical legal criteria and to criteria coming from Economics. By way of conclusion, the evolution is evaluated reflecting from the current Latin American and Uruguayan perspective. The need to define the scope of the expression “welfare of consumers and users” — which is present as an objective in the defense of competition, as well as in the framework of international protection of intellectual property — for the purpose of assessing anti-competitive effects from a regional perspective.
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