Intellectual Property (EU)

Most firms doing any significant international business have a strong interest in the relationship between competition law and intellectual property rights (IPRs). For IPR holders, it is essential to take account of the sophisticated rules governing the exercise of IPRs as developed by the EU Courts and the European Commission. Some of these rules, in particular the application of Article 101 to patent, technology and software copyright licenses, underwent a radical transformation with the Commission’s adoption of a revised Technology Transfer Block Exemption, as well as a complex analytical approach to licenses that do not qualify for an automatic exemption. The so-called “exhaustion” principle should also be taken into account when doing business in the EU, as an IPR holder generally loses its exclusive marketing rights throughout the EU once it consents to the marketing of its IPR-protected goods in any EU Member State. Finally, firms with particularly strong positions in certain markets need to be aware of the conditions in which a refusal to license their IPRs is consistent with the competition rules and of the circumstances in which such a refusal may pose risks.

Van Bael & Bellis regularly counsels clients across many business sectors in transactions involving the licensing of all types of intellectual property rights. It has also defended clients in a number of major European Commission investigations into their licensing practices, in fields as diverse as audiovisual standards, software, photographic systems and blood screening technologies.