DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY LICENSING LAW

The main competition statute in the EEC is Article 85(1) of the Rome Treaty, the treaty which created the European Community in 1958. This statute prohibits agreements, including license agreements, which restrict or distort competition within the EEC. Thus, territorial and other restrictions in such agreements have been held to violate Article 85(1)/ However, the Community has also recognized the importance of license agreements for the economic strength of the Community.2 It has been the Community's objective to develop a jurisprudential approach to license agreements which, in general, minimizes restrictions on competition while at the same time permits those restrictions that are necessary and reasonable to encourage licensors and licensees to enter into these agreements.