International Conference on Intellectual Property and Competition in the Pharmaceutical Industry

On the 19 and 20th of March, Rome hosted an international conference on intellectual property and competition in the pharmaceutical industry, organised by the Italian Competition Authority and the World Intellectual Property Organisation. The Lab was represented by Alexey Ivanov.

During the conference, a number of sectional sessions took place, on the topic of the effective functioning of the pharmaceutical and medical markets, as well as on the limitation and suppression of monopolistic activities and unfair competition in the pharmaceutical industry. Ivanov's presentation dealt with the interplay of patent rights and the process of safeguarding competition in the Russian pharmaceutical sector.

Alexey introduced in his report the dynamic changes in Russian legislation relating to the intersecting spheres of pharmaceutical patents and antitrust regulation, illustrating the relationship of the legal characteristics of the industry and the peculiarities of its economic development. Progression in this area has hinged on several factors: the transition from Soviet central planning to a market economy in the early 90s, and the joining of the WTO, and also the comprehensive codification of IP legislation in the first years of the new millennium. Today the process continues with the revision of Russia's development strategy in the context of BRICS and the Eurasian integration project.

In the analysis of the legal framework of the report, Ivanov included a description of the administrative practices of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia and several relevant judicial practices, including examples from the newly-established Intellectual Property Court, which was instituted in mid-2013.