ANTIMONOPOLY REGULATION IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY AND PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS IN THE FOCUS OF THE ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FORUM 9 ¾

Sergey Puzyrevsky and Timofey Nizhegorodtsev, the deputy heads of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia), moderated sessions on antimonopoly regulation of digital giants and protection of patent rights in crisis situations

Participants of the panel discussion entitled "Antimonopoly regulation in the digital economy" noted that the rapid growth of the digital economy and the emergence of global leaders in the IT sector pose new challenges to antimonopoly services around the world. The risks of digitalization include the possible monopolization of global commodity markets, which resulted not only in unfair competition between companies in the market, but also in direct damage to consumers.

"We increasingly see changes in the structure of antimonopoly cases, both abroad and in Russia. The number of cases against the largest IT companies is growing, but traditional antimonopoly regulation methods alone are not enough. In response to these challenges, legislators around the world are developing rules and requirements for digital platforms. The FAS Russia has prepared proposals to amend the Law on Protection of Competition and the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, entitled the "fifth antimonopoly package". As part of this package, the FAS Russia proposes to ban various forms of abuse by digital giants, which will promote competition and more efficient development of economies for the benefit of society," said Sergey Puzyrevsky.

The session entitled "Antimonopoly regulation and protection of patent rights in crisis situations" was moderated by Timofey Nizhegorodtsev, the deputy head of the FAS Russia. In his opening remarks, he noted, that the issue of how the protection of intellectual rights promotes innovation and does not hind the development of competition is controversial: "Both are the benefit. But the question is how are these benefits related and in balance with each other, how far they are in development and satisfy the public interest."

During the session, the participants discussed the issues of finding a balance between the protection of intellectual property rights and the application of antimonopoly legislation.

"We are often told that the protection of intellectual rights is the key to the development of an innovative economy, and if we somehow intervene in a dispute on the topic of intellectual rights, we create conditions for hindering its development," said Timofey Nizhegorodtsev. – At the same time, international organizations that are engaged in the protection of intellectual rights say explicitly that competition law should help limit intellectual rights to ensure the development of competition, as well as to increase access to innovation and promote their growth."

Alexey Ivanov, the Director of the HSE-Skolkovo Institute for Law and Development, the Director of the International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre, noted: "There is a consensus opinion that intellectual property, like any medicine, has its own "therapeutic window". The low dose does not help, but overdose is injurious to health, the medicine becomes a poison and is fatal as a result. The protection of intellectual property may also be excessive. The legislation on the protection of competition is intended to promote innovation. That is, we take "two ingredients": protection of intellectual property and protection of competition, mix them and get a really functioning mechanism."