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Europe Finalizes Technology Transfer Rules

By Simon Smith
May 01, 2004

Readers will recall that in our December edition, I wrote with some alarm about the European Commission's proposals to revise anti-trust law affecting technology licensing deals (see “Are Anti-Trust Laws About To Bite Europe On Its IP Assets?“).

My alarm was set off by some of the more extreme proposals, which appeared to outlaw exclusive licence deals in many common situations, and there were a considerable number of flaws in the Commission's draft proposals.

Faced with a howl of protests, the Commission has, to some extent, watered down its proposals, but the new regime, which came into force on May 1, still presents a number of potential pitfalls for technology companies wishing to do business in Europe. On May 1, 10 countries joined the European Union (EU) to bring the number of member states to 25.

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