There is increasing discussion about the monopoly power conferred by intellectual property protection. Should this power be unregulated? Licence fees for patents are increasingly subject to antitrust scrutiny with regard to their impact on innovation markets. In Australia, with respect of copyright collecting agencies, there is now greater realisation of the potential competition effects of collective licensing arrangements, with the ACCC having a greater role in matters before the Australian Copyright Tribunal.
In this environment, it is worth while considering what principles should guide the price regulation of intellectual property. How different is it from the regulation of natural monopolies?
