European Union: Closed consultation on future renewal of Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation

On 23 December 2022, the European Commission closed the consultation on the “Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation”. The Regulation will expire on 30 April 2026 and clarifies how EU competition law applies to certain categories of licensing agreements and the criteria used to assess these agreements. The technology transfer agreements represent licensing agreements that allow entities to use the intellectual property rights, including software copyrights, of other entities. The Regulation exempts technology transfer agreements from competition rules, but the Commission noted that such agreements could have a negative impact on competition. With the consultation, the European Commission seeks to gather evidence on the functioning of the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation and the Technology Transfer Guidelines in order to adopt a decision on whether the Commission should allow the Regulation to expire, prolong its duration, revise it or issue new rules to oversee technology transfer agreements.