Are the EU Courts attempting to readjust the balance between protecting intellectual property rights and innovation?

Abstract

Intellectual Property Rights are part of the motivation for individuals and entities to be creative and innovative. This is due to the fact that creators are rewarded for their inventions by being given an exclusive right on their creation for a period of time without anyone being able to duplicate it. Intellectual Property Rights have always been considered as essential for innovation to flourish, however there has been many conflicts with European competition law. The reason being is that although both Intellectual Property Rights and European competition law have at their core the same aim i.e consumer welfare and fair competition, they arrive to their aim by making use of different methods which may seem to contradict each other. In this paper what will be analysed are the judgments given by the European Union Courts when they are faced with this issue. What will be reflected is that the Courts when arriving to their conclusion, have realised the importance of both Intellectual Property Rights and European competition law and that they must not undermine each other, but instead they must be in a system whereby they coexist in order for there to be more innovative ideas. The reason being is that these creations will be protected by Intellectual Property Rights in a healthy competitive environment, thus creators and inventors will be assured that their ideas will reach their full potential. Article 101 TFEU and Article 102 TFEU are the main policies which regulate competition law within the Union and in this particular paper the main focus will be on Article 102, to see the impact it has on Intellectual Property Rights.