European Legal Policy on Biotechnology and Intellectual Property: Competition and Responsible Innovation

European Legal Policy on Biotechnology and Intellectual Property: Competition and Responsible Innovation

Lecture by György Kovács, Legal and Policy Officer at the European Commission, Directorate General Internal Market and Services, a Visiting Research Fellow at CELAB

The presentation will cover the recent policy initiatives of the European Commission on Intellectual Property, with special focus on the pharmaceutical sector, on personalized medicine and biotechnology. Efficient enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights is crucial in order to keep Europe attractive for innovation and investments. The presentation will touch upon also the recent copyright consultation and possible next steps in harmonizing copyright law. The enforcement strategy of the European Commission on Intellectual Property is characterized by the follow the money approach. Instead of pursuing harsh and repressive punishments on individual infringers the European Commission's balanced enforcement strategy is focusing on commercial scale infringements by encouraging voluntary cooperation of key stakeholders to eliminate counterfeits from the supply chains and to create alternative business models to provide better legal offer for consumers.