Reeti Agarwal & Rishi Raju from Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat, address the relationship of IPR with Competition Law in India.
Abstract
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Competition Law are two regimes of law that are bound together by the economics of innovation and market by intricate legal rules that seek to provide balance between protecting and fostering innovation and preventing distortions in the market structure. Historically, these two regimes have developed as two separate fields of law, however, recently in India, the conflict between the two has overplayed. It is argued that these two regimes are not at loggerheads as their goals are to craft consumer welfare and encourage innovation through variant means. Further, it is argued that the interference of competition laws is not with the existence of patents, trademark or copyright but the exercise of it.
The present paper addresses the nexus between IPR and competition law in the innovation industry focusing on the Indian legal structure. This article argues that India is at a nascent stage towards the administration of Competition Laws. There is no sufficient jurisprudence to guide the Indian authorities to deal with the interface of IPR and competition in matters relating to abuse of dominant position, refusal to deal, tying agreements, exclusive licensing, patent pooling and mergers, predatory pricing and compulsory licensing. It is necessary to analyse and inculcate the jurisprudence developed in the EU, regarding the inherent tension between IPR and competition law.