Competition Law & Intellectual Property (LAWS70208)

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

Intellectual property rights support innovation through the offer of a temporary 'monopoly’ to creators and inventors. However, such rights can also impede competition and downstream innovation. Poorly designed intellectual property rules can help rights holders obstruct new players by impeding their access to technology and content. A carefully designed and dynamic intellectual property system can, by contrast, promote competition and enable follow-on innovation. The interaction of intellectual property and competition law is especially crucial here. Taught by two experts in the fields of competition law and intellectual property, this subject examines how competition law regulates intellectual property and vice versa. Relevant Australian and comparable law will be examined, along with case studies in topical areas such as platform liability, big data, file-sharing and luxury brands.

This subject provides an examination of the interface between the legal property rights created by intellectual property statutes and at common law, and the body of law that controls and regulates anti-competitive practices.

Principal topics include:

• Policy goals of intellectual property and competition law
• Regulatory approaches and law reform
• Limitations and controls placed over the grant, subsistence, scope and infringement of intellectual property rights under statutory and common law regimes
• Part IV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)
• Dealings in intellectual property under intellectual property and competition statutes.
• Statutory and compulsory licensing, and remedies