The Use and Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights in EC Law

This book tackles the natural tension between intellectual property and competition law. IP rights tend to bestow competitive advantages which can be abused, and also tend to create segmented national markets and thus obstruct free movement of goods and services within the internal market of the EC.
To help the reader resolve this, the book is divided into two sections: general principles regarding the enforcement of IP rights in EC law, and a case study of the principles in practice - the "spare parts debate" - which is the focus of long-standing interest. This is especially relevant in relation to the proposed Regulation on Design Protection.

* Authoritative, clearly argued analysis
* Of great practical significance to IP and competition law practitioners
* Links the principles of the "spare parts debate" to the general intellectual property field