The Abuse of Dominant Position and IPRs in The EU

In relationship between intellectual property rights and competition law the issue has always been whether they are fundamentally in conflict or they are means to the same end. After many opposing views it is now considered to be generally accepted that they both ultimately pursue the promotion of consumer welfare. The abuse of dominant position as defined in Article 102 of TFEU has several conflicting points with the traditional understanding of intellectual property. The Commission and the ECJ, through their case-law attempted to balance the conflicting claims of the statutory monopoly granted under IP law with competition law concerns about the exclusionary effects of the IP monopoly. Dusko Martic attempts to put a clearer perspective on the issues that implicate very essence of competition law and IPRs.