Intellectual Property Licences and Technology Transfer

A Practical Guide to the New European Licensing Regime

Duncan Curley

• Publisher: Chandos Publishing
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9781843340904
• eBook ISBN: 9781780631455
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Intellectual Property Law
• Index: Law

This essential guide vital new changes by the European Commission to the law governing the enforceability of intellectual property licences in Europe. Agreements which contain the grant of a licence by one party to another of intellectual property rights are subject to European competition (anti-trust) laws. In particular, many agreements containing licences of patent rights and rights in confidential information and technical know-how are caught by Article 81(1) of the EC Treaty, which prohibits agreements between undertakings which prevent, restrict or distort competition in the Common Market. However, because licences of intellectual property rights usually facilitate the transfer of technology from one undertaking to another, and the licensor and licensee will often operate at different levels of the market, many licences of intellectual property rights may benefit from an automatic exemption under Article 81(3) of the EC Treaty. On 1 May 2004, this exemption is being radically overhauled, as part of the European Commission's drive to modernise European competition law. This book examines the changes in that legislation.- The legislation is completely new and there is therefore no existing book on the market- The change in the law will require an entirely new approach to the drafting of IP licences- The change in the law will require existing IP licences to be re-examined and possibly re-negotiated

Table of contents

• Cover
• Intellectual Property Licences andTechnology Transfer: A practical guide to the new European licensing regime
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Tables of references to EU legislation and other documents
• About the author
• 1 Exploitation of intellectual property rights and the impact of competition law
• 2 The old technology transfer block exemption regulation and the need for reform
• 3 An economics-based approach to the analysis of agreements under Article 81 and the new-style block exemptions
• 4 The technology transfer block exemption: the safe harbour
• 5 The technology transfer block exemption: hardcore and excluded restrictions
• 6 Analysis outside the block exemption: Article 81(3)
• 7 Challenges to licence agreements under the modernised regime
• 8 Conclusion
• APPENDIX 1 Commission Regulation (EC) No. 772/2004
• APPENDIX 2 Commission Notice 2004/C101/02
• Index