Intellectual property as a component of competition law

Intellectual property rights and competition law pursue the same goal of promoting innovation. This requires taking competition policy concerns already into account when designing the optimal scope of intellectual property rights. On the other side, it is also necessary to consider the positive effects of intellectual property rights in fostering innovation when applying competition law to restrictions involving such rights. In this respect, the “more economic approach” nowadays advocated by the European Commission allows to take into account the economic effects of IPRs on a given market. Striking the right balance between intellectual property rights and competition law in order to best achieve the common goal of promoting innovation and an efficient allocation of resources is one of the main focuses of research at the Department of Intellectual Property and Competition Law of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law.