Patenty v rukou dominantních soutěžitelů

Abstract

The article describes the basic underlying principles of competition law concerning abuse of dominance, follows with the introduction to relevant aspects of intellectual property law with focus on patents. The core of the article discusses the interaction of patents and competition law. The authors argue that patents can cause increase of market power and lead the undertaking to become dominant. Such dominant undertakings are limited in their market behavior also while exploiting and protecting their patent rights. Potential antitrust issues could occur especially with certain types of patents, such as essential patents and standard essential patents. The authors verify their conclusions with existing case law and conclude with recommendations to undertakings with strong market power active in the patent field on how to avoid the risk of breaching competition law rules.