Part 1: Intellectual Property in the European Union
Q1. Explain why the national regulations in the field of intellectual property may be an obstacle to the principle of free movement in the European Union?
Q2. How does the European Court of Justice try to balance intellectual property and free movement?
Q3. What are the main difficulties in this field?
Q4. Do you think that the current situation is a good balance between intellectual property and free movement and is conform to the needs of companies?
Part 2:
HB Ice cream is the main manufacturer of ice cream on the Irish market. It has 70 per cent of the market share. The number of competitors and their market shares are small.
HB provided freezer cabinets to the retailers without charge provided they were only used for the suppliers' own product and not for those of rival manufacturers.
At that time, Mars sought to win additional market share by offering the well known chocolate bars. Some retailers used HB freezer cabinets to stock Mars chocolate bars.
HB considers that the retailers didn't respect the agreement. Mars considers that the agreement doesn't conform European competition law.
What do you think of these practices ?