Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines

The purpose of these guidelines is to articulate the principles governing the Competition Bureau's policy with respect to the interface between intellectual property (IP) rights and competition law. The goal is to alleviate uncertainty that the business community may face concerning this interface and to promote transparency in the enforcement of the Competition Act. The document discusses the following topics: the general purpose of IP laws; the general purpose of competition law, and the basic analytic approach used in its application; the Bureau's enforcement principle underlying the application of the criminal and civil provisions of the Competition Act to business arrangements involving IP; the application of Section 32, the special remedy provision; the Bureau's mandate to promote competition. It also includes a series of hypothetical situations illustrating how the Competition Act will be applied to conduct involving IP.

U.S. gov¿t. efforts to protect & enforce intellectual property (IP) rights domestically & overseas are crucial to preventing billions of dollars in losses to U.S. industry & IP rights owners & to avoiding health & safety risks resulting from the trade in counterfeit & pirated goods. A coord. structure has evolved to address coord. issues across U.S. gov¿t agencies. First, Congress created the interagency Nat. Intellectual Property Rights Law Enforcement Coord. Council (NIPLECC) in 1999. In 2004, the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP) was initiated. This report focuses on: the effectiveness of NIPLECC & STOP as a coord. structure to guide & manage U.S. gov¿t. efforts; & the extent to which STOP meets the criteria for an effective nat. strategy. Illus.

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Although individuals or companies can pursue civil remedies to address violations of their intellectual property rights, criminal sanctions are often warranted to ensure sufficient punishment and deterrence of wrongful activity. Congress has continually expanded and strengthened criminal laws for violations of intellectual property rights to protect innovation, to keep pace with evolving technology and, significantly, to ensure that egregious or persistent intellectual property violations do not merely become a standard cost of doing business for defendants.

This is the second edition of the Antitrust Section's handbook on the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission's Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property. Like its predecessor, this volume provides a description of the enforcement agencies' antitrust policy with respect to the licensing of patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and know-how. It also is updated to reflect the pertinent developments since the agencies issued their Guidelines seven years ago. Since 1995, the agencies have initiated a wide variety of enforcement actions involving intellectual property and have pursued claims ranging from alleged price fixing among patent holders to allegedly anticompetitive settlements of infringement litigation. This book discusses these enforcement actions and the recent judicial decisions in this area and also provides some historical perspective on the agencies' current policy with respect to the licensing of intellectual property. The book includes the complete text of the 1995 Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property.

Fed. law enforcement actions against criminals who manufacture and distribute counterfeit and pirated goods are important to enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights and protecting Americans from unsafe or substandard products. This report: (1) examines key fed. agencies¿ roles, priorities, and resources devoted to IP-related enforcement; (2) evaluates agencies¿ IP-related enforcement statistics and achievements; and (3) examines the status of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. The author reviewed relevant documents, interviewed officials in five key agencies, and analyzed agency IP enforcement data from FY 2001 through 2006. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.