The Regulation of Patent Licensing under the Competition Law – Focus on Patent Pools
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Wen, Juo-Lan
Abstract
The concept of “Patent pools”, with over a hundred years of history, is of substantial importance in a number of key industries including biotechnology, semiconductor, computer software, and the Internet. Accordingly, antitrust issues arising from patent pools have long been the focus of antitrust legislation in various countries. This thesis attempts to compromise the conflicts between Patent Law and Competition Law, and construct the appropriate legal means under Taiwan’s legal system.
Chapter I is the preface of the thesis. Chapter II explores the causes and categories of “patent licensing” and “patent pools” based on the nature of patent, and analyzes the pros and cons of patent pools from a legal and economic perspective.
Chapter III probes into the nature and history of development of “patent policy” and “competition policy”, and examines the interaction between the two. Most of the current legal theories and court decisions reject the earlier concept that “a fundamental conflict exists between Patent Law and Competition Law”, and hold that both Laws serve a common purpose of “promoting competition and encouraging innovation”. Nonetheless, it is an undeniable fact that there exists a certain degree of conflict and tension between Patent Law and Competition Law in terms of “legal means”. As such, careful consideration should be taken with regard to the regulation of patent licensing under Competition Law.
Chapter IV introduces a variety of legal principles constructed under the legal system and case law of the United States. This Chapter covers the following materials: the provisions of U.S. Antitrust Law, the guidelines and reports issued by The United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as some of the classic precedents and recent decisions ruled by the courts. In addition, relevant scholarly opinions are introduced, compared, and reviewed in this Chapter.
Chapter V focuses on Taiwan’s regulation of “patent pools” under current law. Based on the well-known “Philips Case”, this Chapter further summarizes the differences between the followings: (1) positions of the parties of the case, (2) view of Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (3) decisions of the courts, and (4) opinions of various prominent local legal scholars. Finally, using the principles previously established by this thesis, this Chapter points out the problems of Taiwan’s current legal system in terms of legislation and law enforcement.
Chapter VI draws conclusion of the subject. Based on the discussions and analyses conducted in the previous Chapters, several suggestions were being proposed as to the future legislation and enforcement of Patent Law and Competition Law. In short, this thesis envisions to create a more complete and coherent blueprint for Taiwan’s future legal system that not only keeps pace with times but also takes into consideration of the needs of the industries—all in the hope of realizing the ultimate common goal of Patent Law and Competition Law, that is, “promoting competition and encouraging innovation”.
Subjects
patent pools
patent licensing
cross-licensing
abuse of monopoly
antitrust
Competition Law
Philips case
SDGs
Type
thesis
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