Competition Law and Patents: A follow-on innovation perspective in the biopharmaceutical industry

Using the example of research tools in biopharmaceutical research and innovation, this book examines the complexities of the relationship two fundamental areas of law and policy - intellectual property rights and competition law. It addresses a question that is certain to become paramount in other industries also: how to strike the balance between initial and follow-on innovation so as to ensure that access to 'essential' research tools (or other fundamental elements to follow-on innovation) is not impeded.The book concludes by suggesting how competition law could be used to complement the patent balance. "Competition Law and Patents" caters for various groups ranging from those with a general interest in competition law, patent law and/or biopharmaceuticals, to students who want to understand how competition and intellectual property work in practice (or to understand the interface between the two policies), and from practitioners and policymakers to people within the biopharmaceutical industry itself.--Preface --Part I: The Problem – Access as a Necessary Element of Follow-on Innovation? --1. Biopharmaceutical R&D: The Increased Importance of Cumulative Innovation and Related Concerns --Part II: The Patent Balance and Working Solutions in the Patent System --2. The Patent System as a System of Balancing --3. The Patent System and Some Potential Safety Nets --4. The Right to Health as an Interpretive Principle of Patent Law --Part III: Antitrust as a Complement to the Patent System --5. Unilateral Conduct, Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law: A Systems’ Interaction --6. The Duty to Deal under Art. 82 EC Part IV: A More Innovation Sensitive Approach to the Interface of Competition Law and Patents? --7. The Duty to Deal as Applied to Address Technology Access Problems in the Biopharmaceutical Industry --Bibliography --IndexPublished version of EUI PhD thesis, 200