Professional Documents
Culture Documents
AND
EU COMPETITION LAW
Thomas Kramler
European Commission, DG Competition
• (The views expressed are not necessarily those of the European Commission)
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General legal/economic analysis of
standardisation agreements
Agreements between competitors but clear benefits
of standardisation
- Interoperability, follow-on innovation
Subject to conditions
- Transparency of process
- Unrestricted participation
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- Access to all who wish to work the standard
Legislative Framework
• - Reciprocity
• - Injunctions
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Transfer of FRAND commitments
Horizontal Guidelines
•"285. […] To ensure the effectiveness of the FRAND
commitment, there would also need to be a requirement on
all participating IPR holders who provide such a commitment
to ensure that any company to which the IPR owner
transfers its IPR (including the right to license that IPR) is
bound by that commitment, for example through a
contractual clause between buyer and seller."
•- IPcom case
•- Injunctions
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Reciprocity
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Injunctions
- Directive 2004/48 on the enforcement of intellectual
property rights ("the Enforcement Directive")
- Article 3(2) remedies shall: "[…] be effective,
proportionate and dissuasive and shall be applied in such
a manner as to avoid the creation of barriers to
legitimate trade and to provide for safeguards against
their abuse".
- European Court of Justice, C‑70/10, Scarlet Extended:
- When granting injunctions a fair balance between the
protection of the intellectual property right and the
freedom to conduct a business must be struck.
(para 46)
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Injunctions
- Many cases in Member States' courts
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Injunctions
- Pending Commission antitrust investigations (formal
proceedings opened in 2012)
- Higher royalties
- Onerous cross-licensing terms
- Exclusion
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Injunctions
Google/ Motorola merger decision (para 141):
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Conclusion
VP Almunia: "Legal battles like these may put the
standardisation process at risk and hold up
innovation in the entire industry.
[…] I am willing to provide clarity to the market
through our enforcement.
[…] I am also convinced that the industry needs to
do its homework too." (Fordham conference,
September 2012)
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