Public Comments Invited for SAIC Provisions on Prohibition of IP Rights Abuse to Eliminate & Restrict Competition
The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) is now inviting comments from the public on the Provisions of the Administrations for Industry and Commerce on the Prohibition of Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights to Eliminate and Restrict Competition (Draft for Comments), which provide elaborations on Article 55 of the Anti-monopoly Law of China (AML).
The draft Provisions, comprising 21 articles, include the following contents:
- "Abuse of intellectual property rights (IPR) to eliminate and restrict competition" in the draft Provisions refers to monopolistic conducts involving exploitation of IPR which violate AML or other relevant IP laws and administrative regulations, such as implementing monopoly agreements and abusing market dominant positions.
- Business operators are prohibited to enter into monopoly agreements involving IPR where such agreements violate Articles 13 and 14 of AML.
- Business operators are prohibited from abusing their market positions in the course of implementing IPR. Details are provided specifically for the conducts of refusal to license IP, tie-in sale, and imposing unreasonable restrictive conditions on transactions in implementing IPR.
- Those IPR implementation related behaviours which constitute monopolistic conducts in cases of standard setting and implementation, issuance of cease and desist letters, as well as activities of patent pools and copyright collective management organizations.
- The principles of conducting investigation by administrative authorities for industry and commerce on alleged monopolistic conducts and applicable penalties.
The draft Provisions are available for public comments until 10 July 2014 via the following channels: the special column on top left of the home page of the Legislative Affairs Office website (http://www.chinalaw.gov.cn), the special column on the right of the home page of the SAIC website (http://www.saic.gov.cn), by post to Antimonopoly & Anti-unfair Competition Enforcement Bureau of SAIC, and by sending email to zfj@saic.gov.cn.
Related links (Chinese version only):
《工商行政管理机关禁止滥用知识产权排除、限制竞争行为的规定（征求意见稿）》Provisions of the Administrations for Industry and Commerce on the Prohibition of Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights to Eliminate and Restrict Competition (Draft for Comments)
关于《工商行政管理机关禁止滥用知识产权排除、限制竞争行为的规定（征求意见稿）》的起草说明 Notes on Provisions of the Administrations for Industry and Commerce on the Prohibition of Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights to Eliminate and Restrict Competition (Draft for Comments)
