Abstracts Law

Sustainable Development Goals in the Light of Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law: Kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet immateriaalioikeuden ja kilpailuoikeuden valossa

by Joonas Mattsson

My master’s thesis concerns the interplay of three distinct topics: sustainability, intellectual property rights and competition law. The perspective is systemic: the aim is to give a bird’s-eye view to issues that concern all three of the topics. The definition of sustainability is viewed theoretically as a form of justice and acquiring its practical meaning from the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The potential intellectual property right and competition concerns in the sustainable development goals are described and analysed in the thesis with the focus on those where the issues arise when an exclusive right of an IPR becomes a form of abuse of a dominant market position. The key findings of the thesis include the classical access versus incentive problem on how to let especially developing countries access innovations that increase the wellbeing of people and the environment while also incentivising further innovation. Further findings concern the role of competition law as a balancing tool for IP law by restricting what kind of licensing behaviour can be accepted for innovations that are important for promoting sustainable development. In addition, critical observations of the need of coherence of regulation and the predictability of competition law enforcement in sustainability settings are presented. In conclusion, intellectual property law and competition law can both be useful in promoting sustainable development at their current state, but both could benefit from attention from legislator regarding their missions. It should also be remembered that intellectual property law and competition law cannot be the only fields of law taking part in this task and whose mission is updated, but rather it should be considered which objectives are best suited to regulate within other fields of law.