Competition Law, IP & Personality Rights

Intellectual property rights support innovation through the grant of (usually time-limited) property rights to creators and inventors, along with certain protections for those responsible for developing and using trade marks. Personality rights acknowledge and protect rights of individuals and groups over their personal image and identity. Both types of rights – which broadly speaking are geared to fostering human creativity and invention, on the one hand, and human dignity and flourishing, on the other hand – enjoy a shifting and uneasy relationship with competition law which is geared (by and large) to fostering competitive markets and consumer welfare. The question, then, is how to ensure that in their conception, design, interpretation and application these laws can be drawn on to effectively balance interests to produce optimal human and social outcomes.