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"Study calls ILP "a prototype of a patent clearing house"

In November 2014, the vegetable seed industry saw the introduction of the International Licensing Platform (ILP). The ILP’s main objective is to enable worldwide access to biological material covered by patents for the purpose of vegetable breeding, whilst safeguarding incentives to invest in patentable inventions. As a result, the ILP will boost innovation and competition in the industry.

This contribution explains the reasons for founding the ILP and introduces its structure and inner workings, including the use of ‘baseball arbitration’ as a pragmatic mechanism for determining royalties in case bilateral negotiations fail. In addition, it explores some of the antitrust-related challenges associated with assessing initiatives such as the ILP and discusses open questions, limitations and success factors.

Given its innovative set-up and structure, the ILP may potentially serve as a prototype for multiparty licensing structures in other industries where intellectual property rights are prevalent and access through conventional licensing negotiation is not satisfactory. However, the suboptimal antitrust guidance currently in place in the European Union runs the risk of chilling the willingness of private actors to introduce welfare-enhancing collaborative licensing initiatives. Accordingly, the (procedural) antitrust landscape in the relevant area arguably warrants reconsideration.

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