Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Canada Competition Bureau seeks public comment on its updated IP enforcement guidelines, (Jun 9, 2015)
By Michael Menzhuber, J.D., LL.M.
The Canada Competition Bureau has released an updated draft version of its “Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines” (IPEG) for public comment, the agency announced today. A preliminary version of its updated IPEGs, released on September 18, 2014, informed stakeholders and other interested parties of the Bureau’s enforcement approach to business conduct involving intellectual property. A related white paper, released on September 23, 2014, described its preliminary views as to how Canadian competition law could be applied to potentially anti-competitive patent litigation settlement agreements in Canada.
According to the agency, the updated IPEGs sought to: (1) reflect the 2009 amendments to the Competition Act, including the changes to the criminal conspiracy provisions and the introduction of the competitor collaboration provision; (2) reflect recent Bureau enforcement experience involving product-switching conduct in the pharmaceutical industry; and (3) ensure that the IPEGs were consistent with other Bureau guidelines that had been released since the 2009 amendments.
At that time, the Bureau committed to seeking additional public comment with the objective of releasing a further updated version of the IPEGs which would take into account recent developments related to competition policy and intellectual property law. Once finalized, the IPEGs will describe the Bureau’s enforcement position with respect to issues such as:
patent litigation settlement agreements;
the conduct of companies that own standard essential patents; and
the activities of patent assertion entities.
The release of this draft update supports the Bureau’s “Action Plan on Transparency” which aims to promote the development of a more cost-effective, efficient and responsive agency, while providing Canadians with more opportunities to learn about the Bureau’s work.
Interested parties are invited to provide their views on the draft updated IPEGs. Comments may be provided by email, fax, or regular mail no later than August 10, 2015. They should be directed to: Advocacy and Economic Analysis Directorate, Competition Bureau, 50 Victoria Street, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0C9, Fax: 819-953-2931, E-mail: consultation.pi/ip.consultation@bc-cb.gc.ca.
News: Antitrust