The AstraZeneca Competition Case: Patent Strategies Constituting Abuse of Dominance
Abstract
On 6 December 2012, the Court of Justice of the European Union affirmed that AstraZeneca abused its dominant position by engaging in certain intellectual property strategies aimed at protecting its product against generic competition. The judgement provides guidance on when life science companies abuse their dominant position through abuse of intellectual property and regulatory procedures. This article analyses the decision and discusses in particular how AstraZeneca’s patent strategies were caught by Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.