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European Competition Law in the Area of Information and Communication Technologies
Blumental, Eva ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Kunertová, Tereza (referee)
Title: European Competition Law in the Area of Information and Communication Technologies Abstract The world of information and communication technologies developes with a tremendous speed. This pace is something that we need to adjust to, and the EU competition law represents no exception. This thesis concerns development of european competition law in the area of information technologies enabling communication between users. The scope of these technologies is narrowed to telecommunications and so called OTT applications, as both demostrate best the differences caused by dynamic development. In the area of telecommunications the analysis starts with a brief introduction of historical development triggered by process of liberalisation, and continues with the analysis of the decision making of both the Commission and the CJEU. All the areas of competition law are included - articles 101 and 102 of the TFEU, control of concentrations and to certain extent also state aid. Attention is dedicated also to consequences of roaming and of its cancellation, which is about to happen in the upcoming years. A lot of focus is aimed on the Commission's decisionmaking in merger control, where we can assume a development of a certain blueprint. In the area of the OTT applications, we introduce their concept, and a lion...
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Patent licensing and transfer of technologies from the perspective of competition law
Nemčeková, Ivana ; Horáček, Tomáš (advisor) ; Horáček, Vít (referee)
The thesis deals with the relationship between legal protection of competition on the market and legal protection of inventions, illustrated by the relations emerging in connection with licensing of patents. Text of the thesis is divided into four chapters, first two of which constitute a basis for the analysis of chosen subject-matter covered in two subsequent chapters. The topic of the thesis is explored from the viewpoint of competition law; therefore the first chapter introduces competition law foundations and legislation in the EU and the Czech Republic. Besides basic legal institutes the thesis pays attention to legislation and judicial decisions related to technological markets on which patents and their licensing constitute a common part of business strategies. Second chapter covers industrial property protection of inventions in Czech legislation, its foundations and its interconnection with such protection on the international level. The third chapter discusses technology transfer, i.e. transmission of technology information between undertakings on the market. Such information is protected mostly by patents hence it constitutes the issue of both competition law and patent law. With regard to the territorial and exclusive character of the rights resulting from a patent, there are...
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Unfair competition in the Internet environment
Dušková, Dana ; Horáček, Vít (advisor) ; Patěk, Daniel (referee)
Unfair competition in the Internet environment This diploma thesis deals with the manifestations of unfair competition on the Internet. The aims of the diploma thesis were to provide an overview of methods of unfair competition occurring in this specific environment and assess their capability to fulfil the general clause of unfair competition. The diploma thesis is divided into four chapters. The first one of them contains a general introduction to the law of unfair competition in terms of European legislation, namely Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and European Union law. The second chapter discuss the regulation of unfair competition in the Civil Code, the general clause in particular. The thesis analyses the three conditions of the general clause, which must be cumulatively fulfilled, with regard to the Internet environment. In the third chapter of this diploma thesis the concepts specific to the Internet environment, which are often interpreted incorrectly or wrongly, are described. I decided for inclusion of this chapter mainly due to the fact that I use these concepts in the text of this diploma thesis, therefore I wanted to avoid any inaccuracies or confusion that could result from their use without proper explanation. The fourth and most extensive chapter forms...
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Regulation and its impact on the conduct of an entrepreneur
Münzbergerová, Adéla ; Horáček, Vít (advisor) ; Liška, Petr (referee)
1 Abstract Diploma thesis: Regulation and its impact on the conduct of an undertaking Regulation is a very large term that describes a wide scope of activities of the state and other entities that aim at channelling the activities of the undertakings in order to enhance competition and protect consumers and other third parties. This paper analyses the economic and other rationale for regulating markets and describes techniques of regulation. Regulation mainly focuses on mitigating or removing market failures that are caused by a number of factors: existence of monopolies or natural monopolies, windfall profits, externalities, information inadequacy, unequal bargaining power, anticompetitive behaviour and predatory pricing, use of public goods or problems with continuity and availability of services. These market failures can be removed or mitigated by a number of different regulatory strategies that are chosen by the relevant state. The choice of regulatory strategy shall be based on a thorough regulatory impact assessment carried out before the implementation of the specific measure. Regulatory strategies can be grouped in the following regulation schemes: first of all, command and control regulation, the strictest type of regulation, under which the legislator and/or regulator impose a specific rule...
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Protection of Economic Competition - Agreements Violating Competition
Samek, Jiří ; Horáček, Vít (advisor) ; Pelikán, Robert (referee)
1 Abstract - Protection of Economic Competition - Agreements Violating Competition Agreements distorting competition are quite dangerous for the goals of competition law and it is necessary to search for them, find them and punish them. Therefore, the goal of this thesis was to provide a complex explanation of the issue of prohibited agreements from the point of view of Czech and European competition law. Relatively brusque diction of primary sources of law is typical for competition law and for the regulation of prohibited agreements. For this reason a large area of law is left to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and also for national courts in administrative judiciary. The thesis has in mind also the importance of the soft law which serve as a manual of the approach of the European Commission and the Office for the protection of competition which leads to a higher level of legal certainty. First chapter is dedicated to the explanation of basic terms of economic competition and of competition law. The largest space is given to the definition of the Czech term "competitor" and its European equivalent "undertaking". This chapter also explains relevant market and the matter of relationship between Czech and European competition law. The whole second chapter is dedicated to the...
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Relationship between Competition Law and Intellectual Property Law
Davidová, Tereza ; Horáček, Vít (advisor) ; Rozehnal, Aleš (referee)
This Master thesis named "Relationship between Competition Law and Intellectual Property Law", deals with the interface between competition law and intellectual property law in the context of European Union law. In the beginning of this thesis authors briefly introduce both legal disciplines and explain their most important terms and goals. The thesis is further divided into three main topics. Firstly, we elaborate on theoretic relationship between competition law and intellectual property in regard to their values, aims and methods of regulation. Then we dive into the issue of conflict of nationally regulated intellectual property law with the internal market and the freedom of movement of goods and services. The second thematic part clarifies the difference between market power and statutory monopoly that is granted to the owners of intellectual property. We analyse the specific issues of finding dominant position of competitors owning intellectual property. Then we examine individual types of behaviour that are considered to be abusive in the context of intellectual property law. Special focus is given to the issue of refusal to licence intellectual property that falls within the definition of essential facility doctrine. Lastly, we concentrate on cartel agreements in the context of intellectual...
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Current Patent Strategies in Pharmaceutical Industry and their Impact on EU Competition Law Policies
Molitorisová, Alexandra ; Dobřichovský, Tomáš (advisor) ; Pítra, Vladimír (referee)
The thesis reviews current patent strategies of original pharmaceutical companies and their tangled role in the fabric of European pharmaceutical innovation and competition. It addresses several components of the European pharmaceutical industry such as regulatory framework, patent filing and dispute strategies and competition law. It argues that patent law is embedded in a broader competition law framework however plays on a separate field where it governs primarily the entry to its exclusive space by market actors. However it asserts that competition law should serve as a time referee for the patent law playfield and check if the abusive prolongation of exclusive patent position does not occur. The thesis deliberates that in view of ever rising number of patent applications, abuse of the patent system may become symptomatic to the system. The Commission data presented in the Final Report on the pharmaceutical sector inquiry are again inspected. Although data should be used with caution, it revealed a good quantitative base for assessment of a system which seemingly becomes more entropic, complex and susceptible to abuse. Therefore the underlying principles in both patent and competition law should be upheld more strongly than ever. It is the principle of fairness that should have normative force...
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Legal aspects of on-site inspection of the Office for the Protection of Competition and the European Commission
Krempl, Adam ; Horáček, Vít (advisor) ; Horáček, Tomáš (referee)
The Master's thesis describes and analyses the legislation of the on-site inspections conducted by the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition and the European Commission. The competition authorities may investigate business and other premises in order to find evidence proving the violation of competition rules. The on- site inspection or so called dawn raid is a main investigative and the most effective tool of the competition authorities in proceedings concerning the possible breach of competition law. The main aim of this thesis is to provide a detailed description of the relevant legislation and case law, to highlight any legal issues connected with on-site inspections and offer solutions of these issues, and finally to examine guarantees of the fundamental rights of the undertakings during the inspection. The thesis consists of eight chapters. Chapter One and Two are introductory and describe basic terms connected with the competition law. In Chapter Three the thesis deals with the scope of relevant Czech and EU legislation. Chapter Four is concerned with the guarantees of fundamental rights within on-site inspections. This chapter comprehensively describes and analyses relevant decisional practice of the European Court of Human Rights, Czech and EU courts, in which those courts...
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Protection of competition - block exemptions
Šafaříková, Barbora ; Horáček, Vít (advisor) ; Pelikán, Robert (referee)
PROTECTION OF COMPETITION - BLOCK EXEMPTIONS The main purpose of my thesis is to describe and analyze one aspect of a block exemption regulation for vertical agreements, namely resale price maintenance. The thesis is composed of six parts, one of them dealing with block exemptions in general and the rest of them focusing on resale price maintenance. Chapter one introduces the topic of block exemptions and explains the features of block exemptions that are common to all of them. Chapter two presents the definition of resale price maintenance and describes the difference between fixed, minimum, maximum and recommended prices. Chapter three describes economic theories, which have influence on legal treatment of resale price maintenance. The chapter is divided into three subchapters, whereas the first one explicates pro-competitive effects of resale price maintenance, the second one focuses on its anticompetitive effects and the third one summarizes the economic theories of impact of resale price maintenance. Chapter four examines the legal framework of resale price maintenance in European law. Firstly, it describes the treatment of fixed, minimum, recommended and maximum prices. Then it analyzes resale price maintenance as an object restriction and examines possible exemption under Article 101 (1) of...
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Patent, protection of originality or limitation of the competition ?
Kodad, Jiří ; Dobřichovský, Tomáš (advisor) ; Pítra, Vladimír (referee)
This master's thesis deals mainly with the interface between patent law and competition law. The main objective is to provide the reader with a complex patent law overview and explanation of basic concepts related to intellectual property law, with a pivotal focus on patent law. In order to do so, author examines how national legislation contained primarily in Act no. 527/1990 Coll., On Inventions and Rationalization Proposals, as amended works and then analyzes Paris Convention and other treaties, which still remain to be the cornerstone of the international law. After introduction to a patent protection there are examined three of the most significant patent systems in the world - European Union, United States of America and Japan and their respective approaches to patent protection. In addition to exploring limits of a patent rights protection, there are explained doctrines relating to intellectual property rights, with closer attention to patents. Another objective of the work is the analysis of patent law's interface with the competition law. As part of this examination there is paid attention mainly to the abuse of a dominant position through the exercise of patent rights, essential facilities doctrine and FRAND licensing. In conclusion, the author tries to critically assess what the current problems...
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