Patent Settlements in the Pharmaceutical Sector as Agreements Restricting Competition - Law and Economics Analysis

Abstract

The subject of this thesis are patent settlements concluded by an originator pharmaceutical company holding a patent and a generic company alleging invalidity of this patent or potentially infringing this patent as agreements restricting competition under the Article 101 TFEU and its national equivalents. The research purpose of this thesis is to thoroughly consider from the legal and economic perspective under which conditions the patent settlements in the pharmaceutical sector may be agreements restricting competition. Further the ultimate aim of this thesis is to propose a legal test for the assessment of the patent settlements in the pharmaceutical sector. To this end, the rules vs. standards framework is employed with a view to examining the desired approach from the law and economics perspective.