Patently Unfair? Two views on the IP vs Competition law debate

Intellectual Property (IP) and competition law are generally considered distinct specialisms. One involves conferring monopoly power on products or processes. The other scrutinizes, mitigates or prevents such monopoly power. How the two interact has never been more contentious with patent settlements coming under fire from a competition law perspective. Charlotte Tillett, a specialist in patent litigation, and Gustaf Duhs, a specialist competition lawyer, both from Stevens & Bolton, square up to discuss the latest developments and to discuss their opposing (personal and not necessarily deeply held) views on the arguments.

Gustaf Duhs: A hot topic in competition law at the moment is so called “pay for delay” agreements. This is a form of patent dispute settlement agreement in which a generic manufacturer agrees to keep its generic product out of the market of the originator for a specified period of time in return for payment or other consideration. I’ll come on to the competition law issues - but what is the IP angle?