Intellectual property and price discrimination: a challenge for Australian competition law

Price discrimination usually requires a mechanism to prevent arbitrage. In respect of intellectual property, the mechanisms include bans on parallel importation in intellectual property legislation and licensing and distribution contracts that separate one group of users from another. A reasonable thesis would be to expose all market segmentation of intellectual property to the full force of competition law. Australian experience of the repeal of parallel import bans on CDs and the review of an intellectual-property specific provision in the competition legislation suggests otherwise. 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: K21