Strong IP Protections ‘Key' to 'Unlocking Innovation,’ Says Deputy Assistant AG

In digital markets, “as in all markets,” DOJ’s Antitrust Division “advocates for a careful application of the competition laws that takes into account both the short-term and long-term effects on innovation,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roger Alford told the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Wednesday in Tokyo. “Preserving incentives to innovate is also important to Japan, a leader in innovation and technology,” he said. “American consumers benefit greatly from Japanese inventions across different industries. The Sony Walkman was a breakthrough technology that gave music lovers like me a way to listen to music on the go.” Strong intellectual property protections are “key for unlocking innovation,” he said. The Antitrust Division “has sought to curb the misapplication of antitrust law in this area,” he said. “In our view, there should be no free-standing obligation to license patent rights under antitrust law. Similarly, we believe that an unconditional refusal to license a patent, on its own, does not give rise to antitrust liability. We are concerned that using the antitrust laws to police the exercise of an exclusive intellectual property right ultimately will undermine the incentives to innovate and engage in dynamic competition.”