Five Tasks for Fair Competition
Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) Chairman Kim Sang-jo said on September 18 that the KFTC will look into patent right abuse in the domestic IoT and 5G communications markets. He mentioned five tasks for fair market competition, that is, promotion of innovative competition, prevention of the abuse of economic power by large business groups, level playing field for small firms, protection of consumer rights, and renovation of law enforcement systems for recovery of trust.
Measures for preventing the abuse of market dominance are scheduled to be prepared in relation to the promotion of innovative competition. The targets include sectors where common technological standards are applied, such as next-generation semiconductor and wireless communications.
To this end, the KFTC will check the current states of the IoT, 5G communications, digital broadcasting and smart key sectors and set up a monitoring network for the prevention of patent right abuse. It is going to keep in check monopolistic and oligopolistic situations and factors limiting competition, too.
One of the examples is M&A. In other words, the KFTC is planning to precisely analyze M&A cases led by business entities with a number of patents or a large amount of capital and take action once it is determined that such cases hinder innovative competition.
At the same time, the KFTC is planning to respond more actively to the abuse of patent rights by big data-based platform business operators. In this regard, the commission is going to regulate competition-limiting practices in app markets, OS markets, etc.