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Unpublished Paper
The CFI Microsoft Judgment and TRIPS Competition Flexibilities
(2010)
  • Hans Henrik Lidgard
  • Tu T. Nguyen
Abstract

The CFI Microsoft judgment is a first by any court of a WTO Member, disregarding the competition rules in the TRIPS Agreement to justify the application of domestic competition law to the exercise of IPRs. TRIPS allow WTO Members to enact and apply national competition law to IPR-related anti-competitive practices. The position of the CFI finds support in this fact. Still, it is regretted that the CFI did not invoke the TRIPS competition rules in justifying the Commission’s decision to force Microsoft to supply interoperability information. The article considers the consequences of the European position and the effects of TRIPS flexibilities for developing countries.

Keywords
  • Dveloping countries,
  • TRIPS flexibilities,
  • Antitrust,
  • IPR,
  • Microsoft
Disciplines
Publication Date
2010
Citation Information
Hans Henrik Lidgard and Tu T. Nguyen. "The CFI Microsoft Judgment and TRIPS Competition Flexibilities" (2010)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/hans_henrik_lidgard/2/