Technology Transfer Agreement Competition Law

The legal relationship between the beneficiary and the purchaser is essentially contractual, which means that the licensor of the technology accepts the transfer and the acquirer accepts the acquisition of the rights, authorisation or know-how in question. There are different methods and legal agreements that make it possible to transfer or acquire the technology, for example. B by selling or assigning IP rights or a license agreement. Settlement agreements are widely used in intellectual property disputes and do not involve, by default, technology transfer. However, settlement agreements may become relevant under GMO TT if, against payment from the licensor, the licensee agrees to a more restrictive transaction than it would otherwise have accepted. In practice, these clauses may result in a delay or limitation of the placing on the market of the product based on the controversial technology. In that case, the agreement should be assessed in accordance with GMO TT and its guidelines. The same applies to cross-licensing and non-challenge clauses contained in transaction agreements. Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union prohibits anti-competitive agreements. It does, however, offer an exception if: This glossary corresponds to the list of keywords used by the Concurrences search engine.

Each keyword is automatically updated by the latest EU and national jurisdictions of the e-Competitions Bulletin and Competitions Review. The definitions are taken from DG COMP`s glossary on terms used in EU competition policy (© the European Union, 2002) and the OECD`s Industry Organisation Glossary on Economics and Competition Law (OECD ©, 1993). In practice, it can be difficult for companies to carry out these assessments due to the complexity of the rules in force. This is particularly the case for the definition of market shares, the interpretation of certain key restrictions and the assessment of efficiency gains. This is therefore an area in which good legal advice can offer a higher level of commercial certainty with regard to compliance with competition law. The current GMO TT provides for a derogation from the rule of prohibition of anti-competitive agreements provided for in Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) for licensing agreements that meet their conditions. It is considered that such agreements do not have anti-competitive effects or, if they do, the positive effects of the agreement outweigh the negative effects. . . .