Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2002
ISSN
0162-7996
Publisher
Section of Antitrust Law, American Bar Association
Language
en-US
Abstract
Settlements between S competitors in patent cases raise important and sensitive antitrust issues. Patent settlement agreements may create or maintain a monopoly in technology or innovation markets and may also effectuate a monopoly or cartel in related goods markets. Indeed, absent the patent rights, certain terms of patent settlement agreements may be per se antitrust violations. Further, anticompetitive patent settlements-unlike most antitrust conspiracies-are enforceable in court, providing the parties with an effective means of preventing the cheating that is the bane of cartels. Thus, the antitrust risk that a settlement agreement may operate as a disguised cartel has long been recognized.
Recommended Citation
Joseph F. Brodley & Maureen A. O'Rourke,
Patent Settlement Agreements: Preliminary Views
,
in
16
Antitrust
53
(2002).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/2115
