Summary
Book chapter published by Larcier in 2018 in a collective work marking ten years of the transposition in Belgium of Enforcement Directive 2004/48. Intellectual property rights are fundamental rights, but they are not absolute. The chapter identifies the situations in which right holders may abuse them and the legal tools available to prevent or sanction such abuse: the internal limits of intellectual property law itself, such as compulsory patent licences; competition law, through the prohibition of restrictive agreements and of abuse of a dominant position, with refusals to license, standard-essential patents and collective management organisations; and, outside competition law, the general theory of abuse of rights.
Reference
H. Haouideg et S. Debaene, « Droits de propriété intellectuelle et abus », Respect des droits intellectuels en Belgique / Handhaving van intellectuele rechten in België, Larcier, 2018, p. 159-181.