Antitrust Issues In The Technical Standards

Along with the arrival of knowledge-based economy ages, new competition rule appears: technique patented, patent standardized, standard monopolized. Technical standard becomes more and more important in the process of international business of industrialization. Standardization of patented technology turned out to be the main measure for non-tariff commercial protection and global monopolization. Chinese enterprises met lots of technical-standard litigations sued by foreign companies. In fact, foreign companies aim to build technical barriers to block the goods imported from China, which can protect the interest of their native enterprises.Follow with the introduction of the essence and function of technical standard and the analysis of the relationship between technical standard and patent right, it makes clear that technical standard and patents serve different objectives but necessarily have to co-exist in the same industrial and commercial environment, because it can make positive effect on social development. In the same time, the private interest of the patent shall conflict with the collective interest of the technical standard, because the private character of the patent always arouses misuse of the patent right which is the main point of this article. Most of conflict happened in the stage of establishing technical standard and the stage of implementing technical standard. Based on a respective analysis of them from quoting several important cases in foreign countries, the article deemed that most of the antimonopoly issues that covering technical standard is the abuse of patent right. In order to seek balance of the interests of these two sides, much methods can be used, such as technical standard policies approved by our country, special regulations on foreign companies, guidelines on IP antimonopoly law and related regulations, break through technical bulwark.