Published: 5/24/16
Publication: IAM
In the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that a fundamental conflict exists between patent law and antitrust law regarding standard-essential patents (SEPs). Patent law provides a patent holder with an exclusive right which can be used to prevent other parties from using its patented invention. However, antitrust law prohibits the abuse of a dominant position (eg, Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), which arguably can be the case if an SEP holder can prevent an SEP user from implementing an entire industry standard by requesting injunctive relief based on the SEP.