Monday, December 14, 2015

Kobayashi, Ginsburg, Wong-Ervin, and Wright on FRAND and Other Issues in Korea and China

I have previously mentioned on this blog the comments submitted by Professor (and former FTC Commissioner) Joshua Wright and Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the Japan Fair Trade Commission's draft partial amendments to its Guidelines for the Use of Intellectual Property Under the Antimonopoly Act (see here) and on the Canadian Competition Bureau's Draft IP Enforcement Guidelines (see here).  Both sets of comments addressed (among other matters, in the case of the Canadian draft guidelines) the question of whether competition law (antitrust) is the appropriate tool for addressing FRAND issues (the authors think not).  In recent weeks Commissioner  Wright and Judge Ginsburg, along with Professor Bruce Kobayashi and Koren Wong-Ervin, have published two more sets of comments.  

The first, titled Comment of the Global Antitrust Institute, George Mason University School of Law, on the National Development and Reform Commission's Questionnaire on Intellectual Property Misuse Antitrust Guidelines, is available on ssrn.  Here is a link, and here is the abstract:
This comment is submitted to China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) by the Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) at George Mason University School of Law in response to the NDRC's Questionnaire on Intellectual Property Misuse Antitrust Guidelines. The GAI Competition Advocacy Program provides a wide-range of recommendations to facilitate adoption of economically sound competition policy, including how to analyze conduct involving standard-essential patents and non-practicing entities.
Consistent with the arguments made in the two comments noted above, the authors recommend, among other things, "against imposing a sanction under the AML [Antimonopoly Law] for seeking injunctive relief."

The second, titled Comment of the Global Antitrust Institute, George Mason University School of Law, on the Korea Fair Trade Commission's Revised Review Guidelines on Unfair Exercise of Intellectual Property Rights, also is available on ssrn here.  Here is the abstract: 
This comment is submitted to Korea's Fair Trade Commission ("KFTC") by the Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) at George Mason University School of Law in response to the KFTC's December 17, 2014 revisions to its Review Guidelines on Unfair Exercise of Intellectual Property Rights. The GAI Competition Advocacy Program provides a wide-range of recommendations to facilitate adoption of economically sound competition policy, including how to analyze conduct involving standard-essential patents.
The comment addresses several issues, but consistent with the above three comments argues "against imposing a competition law sanction for the mere breach of a FRAND commitment" and "against imposing a sanction under the competition law for seeking injunctive relief".

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