Intelektinės nuosavybės ir Europos Sąjungos konkurencijos teisės santykis

Abstract

In this Master‘s paper an attempt is made to disclose theoretical and practical aspects in the approach to enforcement of intellectual property rights and EU competition law. The relevance of this matter and the pertaining issues is dealt with, namely, the extent to which protection of intellectual property rights may influence restriction of competition in the common market. The paper consists of three parts: the first one defines general properties of intellectual property law, EU competition law and the mutual relationship between these two laws. The second part of the paper consists of the analysis of the aims of legal regulation and conditions of application of Article 81 of the EC Treaty focusing on certain instances of assignment and sharing of licence agreements and trademark rights. An examination of mutual links between Article 82 of the EC Treaty and intellectual property rights arising from an exclusive nature of that law is provided. The third part of the paper deals with free movement of goods as a condition securing competition within the Community as well as provides an analysis of the cases of enforcement of intellectual property rights. Theoretical and practical approaches are used in the paper to analyse from a historical perspective legal regulation entrenched in Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. A review and analysis of Lithuanian and foreign legal resources on intellectual property rights and competition law are provided together with the analysis of the case law of the European Court of Justice.