Introduction

Market economies ideally operate under conditions of competition between producers, traders and consumers. The legal order, both national and international, and economic law in particular, provide the framework for competition. That legal order is composed of many ingredients, ranging from company law to contracts for the purposes of business transactions, to regulating international trade and government intervention and to competition law and policy, properly speaking. The latter entails a number of regulatory areas. In a narrow sense, it comprises the field of competition law or anti-trust law, and rules against unfair competition. In a broader sense, it also entails intellectual property protection, disciplines on state monopolies, on subsidies and on government procurement. All these areas define conditions of competition, and they mutually interact and cannot be read in isolation. Partly, they are regulated by international law and are part of what we call international trade regulation.

This chapter addresses the relationship of intellectual property, unfair competition and anti-trust rules. After briefly recalling the functions of intellectual property rights and their role for competition, we will turn to unfair competition and anti-trust rules. The three areas find themselves in a close and complex relationship. All are essential in creating fair conditions of competition. In particular, intellectual property laws need to be shaped and interpreted in accordance with related rules, as much as other rules need to consider the functions of intellectual property.