McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP attorneys Dr. Paula S. Fritsch, Sarah J. Duda and Jordan J. Pringle authored an article entitled, “Exploring the Dichotomy Between Patent and Antitrust Law” that appears in the July 11, 2012 edition of the Westlaw Journal Intellectual Property publication. The interplay between patent and antitrust laws creates an interesting, if not confusing, area of the law. Patent law, on the one hand, grants rights that are frequently (albeit loosely) referred to as a monopolies. On the other hand, antitrust laws are intended to protect competition by preventing unlawful monopolies and other activities that create an unfair playing field between competitors. The potentially conflicting policies underlying these two bodies of law have created tension between them. View the article (subscripton required)
Note: this article originally appeared in the MBHB Spring 2012 edition of snippets publication.