Nagpur: The CIPR and DPIIT-IPR Chair of Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), Nagpur, organised a Virtual Expert Lecture on ‘Linkage between IPR & Competition Law’ recently. The program was conducted under the dynamic leadership of Prof. (Dr.) Vijender Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, MNLU, Nagpur.
Dr. Ragini P Khubalkar, In-charge DPIIT-IPR Chair and Associate Professor of Law, MNLU, Nagpur welcomed the participants to the session and briefly introduced the theme of the program. Dr. Ragini explained the need to understand the relationship between Intellectual Property Rights and its effect on Competition Law.
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Wed 16 Oct. 2024
Trisha Mittal, Assistant Professor of Law, MNLU, Nagpur, was the resource person for the expert lecture. The lecture started with warm welcome. She gave a brief introduction about Intellectual Property. Mittal explained that intellectual property rights confer exclusive legal rights on the owners, limiting others’ access to the same and, as a result, lessening market competition. Competition Law or anti-trust law, on the other hand, tries to expand market access and foster competition.
The purpose of competition law is to safeguard and enhance consumer welfare by reducing monopolistic power. On the other hand, IPR is focused on innovation by granting the owners exclusive to execute a commercial activity, but this does not imply that they can exercise monopoly position in the market. Unfair competition has been identified as one of the primary aims of the Intellectual Property system, which prohibits any act of competition that is contrary to fair practises in industrial or business concerns, referred to as “Unfair Competition.”
Further she explained the provisions of competition law where she explained Section (3) of the Competition Act which states that no enterprise or association of enterprises, nor any person or association of persons, shall enter into any agreement relating to the production, supply, distribution, storage, acquisition, or control of goods, or the provision of services that has or is likely to have a significant adverse effect on competition.
Mittal further said, Section 3(5)(i) of the Competition Act states that any arrangement that restrains infringement or imposes reasonable requirements to protect IP rights protected by Indian IP laws is not anticompetitive. IPR protection prevents firm ideas from being exposed without protection and exploited by competitors, giving the companies a share of market power and, in some cases, monopolistic power, manifested in the exclusive use and commercialization of their discoveries, because they are protected. She elaborated various cases related to the topic and answered all the questions raised by the participants.
The expert lecture was conducted in virtual mode and moderated by Shweta Kulkarni and Trupti Kokate, Research Assistants, DPIIT-IPR Chair, MNLU, Nagpur. The expert lecture was registered by more than 100 participants including academicians, research scholars, and students from all over India.
