In this issue:
This issue, organized by guest editor Paul Lugard, takes an indepth look at the pending revision of the EU competition rules on horizontal cooperation agreements. Paul leads off with a summary of the issues and an introduction to the articles, then Julia Holtz & Tero Louko weigh in on standard setting; Anne Layne-Farrar & Jorge Padilla look at standardization agreements; Axel Gutermuth advocates legal certainty; Richard Taffet tackles the tricky issue of intellectual property rights; and Andreas Reindl assesses the approach to information exchange.
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The EC’s Draft Guidelines on Horizontal Co-Operation Agreements
The EC Commission’s Review of the EU Competition Rules on Horizontal Agreements
The proposed revisions do, in fact, raise a significant number of technical and more fundamental issues. Paul Lugard (Royal Philips Electronics, Tilburg Law & Economics Centre)
The Standard Setting Process and the European Commission’s Draft Horizontal Guidelines
To promote innovation and economic development, the standard-setting process should be geared towards identifying the best in breed technologies irrespective of the existing market position of the various companies participating in the standard-setting procedure. Julia Holtz & Tero Louko (Google)
Comments to the Commission’s Draft Horizontal Guidelines – Standardization
We believe the rules set out in the Draft Guidelines for the treatment of standardization agreements under Article 101 risk chilling innovation and, in some industries, also undermining the process of standardization. Anne Layne-Farrar & Jorge Padilla (LECG)
Revision of the EU Competition Rules on Cooperation in Research & Development and Production: Scope for Further Improvement
This article identifies 10 aspects where, in the author’s view, the Commission’s proposed amendments should be further clarified or dropped in order to reach a sound competition policy solution and enhance legal certainty. Axel Gutermuth (Arnold & Porter)
Information Exchanges Among Competitors: The Commission Takes a New Look
If the Guidelines’ principles are followed in actual enforcement practice the proposed approach should allow firms and their counsel to reasonably accurately assess the risks of information sharing. Andreas Reindl
The Impact of the Draft EC Horizontal Guidelines on Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation
Do the Draft Guidelines seek to define problems and propose solutions in a manner that may be interpreted as reflecting a bias against the legitimate and pro-competitive exercise of intellectual property rights? Richard Taffet (Bingham)
