On Thursday 16 April, the European Commission adopted a revised version of the European Union’s competition rules on technology transfer agreements, namely the ‘TTBER’ block exemption regulation (316/2014) and guidelines on the application of Article 101 TFEU), in place since March 2014 (see EUROPE 13707/20).
Through these agreements, a company holding rights (patents, designs, copyrights) over technologies can authorise another company, usually through licensing agreements, to use these rights to produce goods and services for the purposes of technology dissemination and innovation.
Applicable from 1 May, the revised rules clarify two key characteristics of the digital economy: the strategic importance of data and the increased use of standard essential technologies to enable interoperability between products.
New market practices are also now regulated. In its guidelines, the Commission has created new sections on: - licensing of protected databases; - licence negotiation groups bringing together several technology users.
See the revised competition rules: https://aeur.eu/f/lks (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)