Hello,
I was thinking about anti-trust legislation and is not very clear for me.
For example, if I invent a revolutionary product, patent it and then open a factory to produce it, which would be the only one producing that product, will I have to sell my patent to competitors so that they will also be able to produce that product? Is this something that needs to be done in order to compy with the US and european anti-trust laws?
Thanks,
W
2007-07-11 11:28:18 · 4 answers · asked by Wonderer 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
No.
If you invent product X, others can base work on your product and patent what is basically product Xa. They may in fact still have to pay royalties to you based on what of your work they use.
But your patent is yours.
You may violate the anti-trust acts if you use the power as sole maker of product X to force out or make entry too difficult for makers of product Xa.
2007-07-11 11:34:41 · answer #1 · answered by Atavacron 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.....you would have the right to produce your product without competition. Anti trust laws come in when a company has business practices that eliminate competition...ex. you tell retailers that in order to sell your revolutionary product they also have to sell another product you make and they may not sell a competitors competing product
2007-07-11 11:34:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. That is not at all how it works. Instead, there is a 20 year limit on your patent. Also, your pricing will be analyzed to make sure that you aren't Predatorily Pricing. Otherwise, you would be fine to operate as such, at least in the USA. There is a great horn book, published by Lexis Nexis. I suggest you get it. I don't have it on hand, but you can get it from Amazon.com. Just type in "Antitrust Law".
2007-07-11 12:23:09 · answer #3 · answered by cyanne2ak 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It depends.
If it is a whole product, you are under no obligation to share your patent.
If it's a component, you would be required to offer licensing to others at FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) basis. Think of the Qualcomm CDMA chips used in all cellfones and licensed to manufacturers like Nokia, Motorola etc.
Intellectual property law is complex, but it comes down to not acting in an anticompetitive manner.
2007-07-11 11:39:10 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋