TABLE OF CONTENTS Intellectual property rights (IPRs) grant exclusive rights with limited exceptions. This is generally intended to incentivise and reward the investment in creating such properties, yet not restrict the operation of society nor hamper its economic progress. For patents, the exclusive rights are granted in return for public disclosure of the invention. For copyrights, there are fair dealing allowances for private and non-commercial study. For design rights, no protection exists in the parts that interconnect with other parts. Examples exist for other IPRs.
In maintaining this balance, economic competition is assured. However, there remain avenues for abuse that can distort competition. For example, a patent owner might hold a bundle of essential patents in a field of technology, yet refuse to grant licences on reasonable terms, thus stifling innovation. Elsewhere, a trade mark owning company might use its power as a well-known and successful franchisor to include non-essential conditions in a licensing agreement that allow it to control the supply of goods. In these cases, legitimate competitors are unfairly disadvantaged, and the incumbent monopolist is able to maintain its position with greater ease.
The early international treaties on intellectual and industrial property rights recognised the danger of unfair competition and required that countries address the problem. The Paris Convention of 1883 defines unfair competition as any act of competition contrary to honest practices in industrial or commercial matters . The TRIPS Agreement (TRIPS Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) of 1994 requires the control of anti-competitive practices in contractual...
