New Zealand: Adopted Commerce Amendment Bill including measures on removal of IP exceptions

On 30 March 2022, the New Zealand Parliament adopted amendments to the Commerce Act 1986 (No. 9-3), which reduces intellectual property protections and expands the market power prohibition. It removes current protections of IP agreements and enforcement rights of statutory IP rights in the Commerce Act 1986, which has allowed to enforce IP rights without being considered as taking advantage of market power and permitting IP agreements that might otherwise be prohibited. The Bill aims to remove these protections, which subject new IP agreements to prohibitions against lessening competition or containing cartel provisions, and place businesses with substantial market power under scrutiny for enforcing IP rights in ways that substantially lessen competition.