A Study On The Antitrust Law Restriction Of Patent Misuse In Technical Standards

Technology standard is one kind of or one series of files with some compulsory requirements and instructional performances, including specific technology requests and concerned technical project, aiming at making the product or service meet the demands of security and market access. With the accelerating pace of the regionalization and globalization of the world economy, technical standards play an increasing role in economic development. The combination of technical standards and intellectual property becomes an important tool for more and more companies to continue to expand their global market shares and to pursue the maximum profit. Especially in the high-tech fields, the combination of patent and technical standards has become an inevitable trend.By analyzing the causes and patterns of the combination of technical standards and patent, and effects on market competition of the combination, we can see the combination has a positive impact in the promotion of technological innovation and facilitating consumer choice and so on; But, at the same time, the private character of patent may conflict with the commonweal character of technology standards. Therefore, the patent in technical standards once misused will have serious negative effects in limiting the market competition, hindering technological innovation and restricting consumer choice and so on. The main issues discussed in this article are how to regulate such misuse. In China, whereas the existing research in this area is mainly focusing on misuse of intellectual property right, patent misuse and limitation of intellectual property right etc. There is rarely any research on the issue of patent misuse in technology standard, particularly on the point view of the antitrust restriction. Therefore, this article focuses on the study of the antitrust law restriction of patent misuse in technical standards.Chapter 1 introduces the concept and types of technical standards, analyzes the causes and patterns of the combination of technical standards and patent, and effects on market competition of the combination and then sums up the existing four typical patent misuses in technical standards. It can be regulated from the point view of the civil law and patent law to some extent. However, through analysis and comparison, the author believes that the most reasonable and effective way to regulate such misuse is by the antitrust law. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 introduce the regulations and cases related to the topic in the United States and EU countries respectively. It is said the stones from other hills may serve to polish jade. The author hopes that it will have a certain reference for our country to regulate such misuse after the study of the related regulations and cases in the United States and EU countries. Chapter 4 firstly reviews China's relevant legislations applicable to patent misuse in technology standard and points out the insufficiency in the current《Antitrust Law》, and then based on the above theoretical analyzes, foreign regulations and practices and China's current national situation, proposes the specific measures for the antitrust law restriction of patent misuse inn technical standards in China.