In recent years, the issue of the interface between competition law and patent law which lies at the heart of the ongoing (and yet to be satisfactorily resolved) debate about the “correct” treatment and evaluation of legal disputes involving standard essential patents has steadily gained in importance in the legal literature. Given the increased economic and social importance of the wireless telecommunications industry, this development will not come as a surprise. Indeed, ever since litigation involving standard essential patents in what has subsequently been christened the “smartphone patent wars” started to be fought more vigorously and fiercely about six years ago, there has been a steady increase in the coverage of this topic in the academic literature. What might however come as a surprise is that, until recently, the issue was one that which was mainly covered in specialist interest blogs and, occasionally, in academic journals: the only notable exception to this being Torsten Körber's bilingual research monograph Standardessentielle Patente, FRAND-Verpflichtungen und Kartellrecht – Standard Essential Patents, FRAND Commitments and Competition Law (Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2013, ISBN 9783848704293). It might therefore be said that Petrovcic's book (which forms part of Kluwer's International Competition Law Series (Volume 58)) fills, at least partially, an existing gap in the literature. It is however not for this reason alone that Petrovcic's book is to be much welcomed. Rather, the work deals with a current and highly topical area of law: the CJEU has recently delivered its judgment in Huawei v ZTE (Case C-170/13).

By way of observation and not as a point of criticism, Petrovcic's book (which, as she states herself, represents the law as of 31 May 2014) appears to be essentially her PhD thesis which she defended at the European University Institute in late September 2014. This, as such, does not say anything about the quality, usefulness, and value of the book. But it is, however, noticeable in both the structure and presentation of the research undertaken. Also, while there is a table of cases with page references, there is no index at all. The lack of an index is regrettable.

The book is divided into three parts: “Part I – Setting the Context”, “Part II – The SEP Owner's Liability”, and “Part III – Remedies and the Informal Antitrust Intervention”. “Part I – Setting the Context” comprises Chapters 1 to 3 and, as the heading suggests, introduces the context, underlying questions, parameters, and goals of the research undertaken (“Chapter 1 – Introduction”). “Chapter 2 – Standards and Standard Essential Patents” offers a succinct yet sufficiently detailed outline of the concepts of standards, standardisation process, and standard essential patents, all of which are at the heart of the analysis offered in the remaining chapters. Chapter 2 also, and with regard to both the competitors' conduct and the effect this conduct might have on the market, addresses the issue of antitrust concerns that might arise as a consequence of standards relying on technologies which are subject to patent rights. The outline presented in Chapter 2 is then rounded up by a brief consideration of industry developments in order to, as Petrovcic states herself, present some potential explanations for the increase of legal disputes regarding standard essential patents. This first part of setting the scene is followed by “Chapter 3 – The Interplay between Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law”, which offers a concise overview of patent law in general and the relevant (EU and US) competition law provisions that might be triggered by competitors' conduct. Chapter 3 then moves on to discuss the patent owner's liability in competition law under both EU and US law and closes with a comparative evaluation of the way in which these two jurisdictions treat the exercise of a patent right. Part II (Chapters 4 to 7) builds upon the outline offered in Part I and analyses the standard essential patent owner's liability under EU and US competition law with regard to a number of issues: the standard essential patent holder's market power (Chapter 4), the treatment of the standard essential patent owner's deceptive conduct during the standardisation process in EU and US competition law (Chapter 5), and the treatment of strategic licensing practices in EU and US competition law (Chapter 6). Chapter 7 rounds up Part II by briefly summarising the interim conclusions that might be drawn from the analysis offered in Chapters 4 to 6. With regard to either jurisdiction it points out the differences, the existence of legal gaps, and the resulting (unfortunate) legal uncertainty which can be said to exist in the context of the standard essential patents/competition law interface. Part III of the book (Chapters 8 to 10) adds another dimension to the analysis by examining the issue of EU and US competition law remedies which might be imposed on the holder of a standard essential patent who has been found to have violated the relevant competition law provisions; this analysis includes a brief evaluation of the effectiveness and (potential) effects of the imposition of such remedies. This analysis is then followed by Chapter 9 with a discussion and evaluation of what might be considered “formal” and “informal” competition law intervention regarding opportunistic behaviour by holders of standard essential patents. Chapter 10 provides the overall conclusion to the analysis. In a nutshell, Petrovcic concludes, first, that neither the US nor the EU approach to the use of competition law in addressing issues arising in the context of standard essential patents is without problems; and, second, that not all issues can or should be addressed through competition law.

To conclude, Petrovcic's book represents a valuable addition to the existing literature and generally offers a sound analysis of the interface between competition law and patent law with regard to the regulatory approach to, and “treatment” of, standard essential patents on both sides of the Atlantic. It is apparent both from the bibliography/table of cases and the references made in the work itself that Petrovcic's research draws upon, and evaluates, an impressive number of sources. For all of these reasons, it may be recommended with confidence.