Antitrust and intellectual property law have traditionally been antagonistic forces. While each doctrine is supposedly designed to foster innovation and economic efficiency, they approach those issues from opposite poles – antitrust attacks market power and intellectual property rights often create it. Some observers believe that the rapid expansion of intellectual property rights over the last decade has altered the balance between the two doctrines. That issue is at the heart of the announcement that the FTC and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division will conduct hearings on “Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy.”
In a Nov. 15, 2001 speech announcing the hearing, FTC Chairman Timothy Muris quoted “observers” who argue that “overly broad grants, interpretations, or applications of intellectual property rights may unduly limit competition.” (Timothy J. Muris, “Competition and Intellectual Property Policy: The Way Ahead,” prepared remarks before the ABA Antitrust Section Fall Forum, Nov. 15, 2001, available at www.ftc.gov/speeches/muris/intellectual) He sketched out an extremely broad agenda, most of it aimed squarely at the agencies and courts that grant and enforce patents. Among other issues, the hearings will address:
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