The Roberts Court after two years: antitrust, intellectual property rights, and competition policy

摘要

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has rendered only one decision, Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc., that explicitly addresses the relationship between antitrust and intellectual property rights. But there have been at least five more cases that bear on the broader topic of competition policy and intellectual property rights. An interesting dynamic emerges from this cluster of opinions: While the antitrust cases apply intellectual property rights to justify restraints on competition, a range of opinions in three patent decisions call for limits on patent rights and, with those limits, effectively open markets to increased competition. Altogether, the six cases offer some insights into divergent approaches to the competition policies that have developed in these overlapping regimes.