“A tie-in clause requires the licensee or acquirer of an intellectual property right also to purchase some other good or service which is not protected by the licensed intellectual property rights. A tie-out clause is one which prohibits the licensee or acquirer from acquiring certain goods or services (for example those of a competitor). The high risk of an anticompetitive eff ect of tying clauses is readily apparent and as a consequence they are tightly regulated in each of the jurisdictions dealt with in this text.
In some jurisdictions, such as Australia, Canada, Japan, and the European Community tying clauses are not per se illegal, but close restrictions apply to them. In general a key factor which will determine the legality of the conduct in any given situation is the impact that it has on the competition in the market (which is of course a basic principle of competition law). In many jurisdictions the prohibitions against tying clauses appear not only in the relevant competition law, but also in the intellectual property legislation. In the United States, certain tying arrangements are held to be per se illegal while others require scrutiny to ascertain their impact on the market.
Tying clauses are per se illegal in China in relation to agreements which import technology into China or where the intellectual property owner has a dominant market position. (This latter category is akin to the situation in some other countries where the offence is not per se illegal but depends on the effect on competition in the market.) India’s position is even more strict and holds tie-in and tie-out clauses to be per se illegal.”
As before, this is a short excerpt from one of the overview summary sections.
Just to recap, it’s a detailed and strategic look at intellectual property and related issues in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical industries. It covers 11 jurisdictions, has a Europe overview section and will be published by Oxford University Press. It is topic based, so that you can see how the same issue is dealt with across the globe in one spot.
Oxford has kindly granted a 20% discount for readers of IP Think Tank. To claim your discount, just click this link (Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Chemical Inventions and enter the code ‘ALBUCK10′ , or call the team at Oxford on +44 (0) 1536 741727 and use the code ‘ALBUCK10’. (Note: this offer is only available on orders placed direct with Oxford University Press and is not available through any other supplier.)
Just to give you a little more background, the book will be published in a 2 volume set, with about 1,800 pages. It’s designed for the in-house team – to make things way easier than they are today.
Finally, thanks again to our incredible contributor team, each of whom are amongst the very best in the world:
Pravin Anand, Anund and Anund, India
John Bateman, Kenyon & Kenyon, USA
Susan Beaubien, Moffat & Co, Macera & Jarzyna LLP, Canada
Theo Bodewig, Humboldt University, Germany (Consultant Editor)
Simon Cohen, Taylor Wessing, UK
Wayne Condon, Griffith Hack, Australia
Marina Couste, Howrey LLP, France
Robert A. Dormer, Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C., United States
Atsushi Hakoda, Nakamura & Partners, Japan
Juany Huang, Panawell and Partners LLC, China
Reuben E. Jacob, R. G. C. Jenkins, UK
Fabrizio Jacobacci, Studio Legale Jacobacci & Associati, Italy
Kurt R. Karst, Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C., United States
Klaus Kupka, Taylor Wessing, Germany
David C. Musker, R. G. C. Jenkins, UK
Cyra Nargolwalla, Cabinet Plasseraud, France
Nina Resinek, Taylor Wessing, Germany
Toshio Takizawa, Nakamura & Partners, Japan
Koichi Tsujii, Nakamura & Partners, Japan
Klaus Schweitzer, Plate Schweitzer Zounek, Patentanwaelte, Germany
Deborah Somerville, Kenyon & Kenyon, USA
Paul Steinhauser, Arnold Siedsma, Netherlands
Nigel Stoate, Taylor Wessing, UK
Rosie Stramandinoli, Griffith Hack, Australia
Otto Swens, Steinhauser Hoogenraad, Advocaten, The Netherlands
Andreas Walkenhorst, Tergau & Pohl Patentanwälte, Germany
William Yang Panawell & Partners LLC, China
Federico Zanardi Landi, Studio Legale Jacobacci & Associati, Italy