presented at Gandhinagar National Law University in a International Conference.

1. Interface between Intellectual Property Rights and
Competition Law: The Role of TRIPS and
Relevance to Developing Countries
Dr. Mithilesh Narayan Bhatt
Post-Doctoral Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi
Anirudh Narain Bhatt
Ist yr. LLM (Business Law), NLSIU, Bangalore

2. Prima facie Intellectual property rights
endangers competition while competition
law engenders competition but Anyone
who has seen a steam
engine, however, knows that water and fire
combined in the right way can lead to
positive results.

3. Paper Perspective
 Relevance and interface of competition law to
international issue of IPR and demonstrate how
competition law internationally has come to
function as an indispensable instrument to
balance IPR.
 Discuss the role of competition policy in TRIPS
with relevance to developing nations.

4. IPRs and Competition Law:
Interface
 Abuse of monopoly pricing, especially in
developing countries.
 Competition law seeks to draw a line between
permissible business strategies and abuse of
IPRs.

5. Competition law and IPR Conventions
 The Paris Convention
Article 5A – Failure to work
Public Interest
 The Berne Convention
Article 9(2) – three step test

6. TRIPS
 Article 8(2)
 Article 40
Part I
Part II

7. “The mere adoption of a competition law is a
necessary but not sufficient condition for it to be
part of market reform. Just as ecological
conditions determine the ability of a flower to
bloom, so do some preconditions affect the
ability to apply a competition law effectively”
- Gal

8. Developing Countries
 Obstacles in front of these countries?
- Internal obstacles
- external obstacles
 Importance of competition law for these
countries?
- prevent those agreements which limit
technology diffusion.
- any positive effects of IPRs in these
countries may be offset by restrictions on
competition.

9. In conclusion, while authorities need to
ensure the co-existence of competition
policy and intellectual property laws, they
need not overlook the fact that the
objectives of the two policies, though
complementary, can also be conflicting, in
which case there could be harm to society
in terms of reduced welfare.

10. Recommendations
 Establish and strengthen competition laws
 Consider the competition implications of various
policies and regimes that determine market entry.
 Ensure adequate coordination among the
competition law agency and other agencies.
 Use the flexibilities allowed by the TRIPS
Agreement.
 Develop policies, including guidelines, to prevent
and correct abuse in the acquisition and
enforcement of IPRs.
 Prevent the granting of frivolous or low quality
patents and patents with overly broad claims.
 Active role of government agencies.

11. Thank You
ANB Presentation