Distribution, Licensing and Access

Abstract

Intervention by the regulatory authorities in the affairs of distributors and licensees has mainly been concerned with the vertical restraints that have been imposed on them by manufacturers and licensors. Regulatory practice in that respect came increasingly under question during the 1980s and 1990s, as a result of which the regimes now ruling differ substantially from those of the twentieth century. In its 1985 guidelines the US Department of Justice took the view that vertical restraints generally promote economic efficiency and it has since adopted a generally permissive attitude to them. A similar view was expressed by the British authorities during the passage into law of the Competition Act 1998, and the European authorities have since proposed a block exemption designed to avoid having to examine a wide range of beneficial or relatively harmless restrictions.