The thesis deals with legislative regulation of franchising in the Czech Republic and which areas of law have influence on franchise agreements and how is this relationship to other areas of law solved. The thesis focuses on content of franchise agreements, on typical provisons of franchise agreements according to antitrust law, on protection of intellectual property rights, on unfair competiton and on personal data protection. Some aspects are discussed according to laws of the USA and Germany and are compared to Czech legislation. Available court decisions which deal with franchising were also used in the thesis. Gained knowledge was used to analyze franchise agreement of NATURHOUSE and to suggest some improvemenst in the agreement.

Les accords verticaux correspondent pour l'essentiel au monomarquisme, à la distribution exclusive, à l'achat exclusif, à la distribution sélective, à la franchise et à la concession. Bien que leur diversité soit grande, ils constituent la plupart du temps des accords "de" concurrence car ils développent la concurrence intermarques. L'objectif principal de cette étude est de rechercher et d'analyser les critères d'appréciation des accords verticaux de distribution en droit de la concurrence français, communautaire et argentin. En droit de la concurrence communautaire, les accords de distribution font l'objet d'une importante réglementation et d'une riche jurisprudence. Les règles relatives aux accords verticaux ont subi une réforme qui a abouti à l'adoption d'un nouveau règlement d'exemption par catégorie (Règlement n° 330/2010) accompagné de nouvelles Lignes directrices sur les restrictions verticales. De nombreux accords verticaux bénéficient ainsi d'une exemption catégorielle leur conférant une présomption de légalité et en l'absence que ces accords bénéficient d'un règlement d'exemption par catégorie, ils demeurent tout de même exemptables, à condition que soit établi un bilan économique positif, notamment en raison de gains d'efficience. À la différence du droit communautaire de la concurrence, le droit argentin de la concurrence relatif aux accords verticaux n'a pas adopté de règlements d'exemption par catégorie et les autorités de concurrence argentines procèdent à une analyse au cas par cas des accords au travers de la règle de raison ainsi qu'à une analyse de leur incidence sur l'intérêt économique général. / Vertical agreements mostly correspond to single branding, exclusive distribution, exclusive purchase, selective distribution, franchising and concession. Although their variety is large, most of the time they constitute competition agreements because they increase inter-brand competition. The main aim of this study is to look for and to analyse the assessment criteria of distribution vertical agreements in French, European and Argentine Competition Laws. In European Competition Law, an important set of regulations and a rich case-law exist concerning distribution agreements. The rules concerning vertical agreements have been reformed ; as a consequence of this reform, a new Block Exemption Regulation (Regulation No 330/2010) has been adopted and accompanied by new Guidelines on Vertical Restraints. Lots of vertical agreements also benefit from Block Exemption which confers them a presumption of legality and in case these agreements do not benefit from the Block Exemption Regulation, they still can be exempted on the condition that a positive economic balance should be established, notably in view of efficiency gains. Unlike European Competition Law, the Argentine Competition Law concerning vertical agreements has not adopted Block Exemption Regulation and the Argentine competition authorities analyse each agreement in the light of the Rule of Reason and analyse their impact on the general economic interest.

2004年4月，歐盟執委會頒佈了新的「技術授權協議集體除外規則」及其「指導原則」，以取代1996年開始實施的舊規則。這個規則係在規範技術授權行為於歐體條約第81條下之合法性。其改革所代表的意義，主要則體現於兩個層面。其一，本次改革顯示了歐盟官方對於智慧財產權與競爭政策之關係的態度。其二，則是涉及到歐體競爭法之集體除外制度，乃至於競爭法本身如何更驅現代化的發展軌跡。以前者而言，歐體競爭法在執法思考上傾向於更加尊重智慧財產權之行使；就後者而言，則不論是在競爭規範或執法上，均更強調經濟導向的思維模式。尤其在集體除外規則中設計了以市占率為門檻之安全區制度，將使主管機關更能專注於真正重大限制競爭之案件，並使事業有更大的彈性空間因應日益複雜化的授權實務。 在現今全球化的商業實務，授權活動不可避免地將更具跨國性。因此本文的目的，即在於剖析歐盟新的集體除外制度，希冀提供各界參酌。除此以外，並藉由對歐盟新制的探討，回頭檢視我國公平法對於授權活動之規範。尤其，係對照分析公平會技術授權處理原則之規範說明。希望藉由探討歐盟新架構下的規範思考，亦能夠帶給我國規範或執法上一些新的啟發。 / On 7 April, 2004, the European Commission adopted a new Block Exemption Regulation with respect to technology transfer agreements (TTBER) along with some detailed Guidelines. The new Regulation, which replaces the Reg. 240/96, addresses the evaluation on licensing activities under Article 81 of the EC Treaty. This reform shows the official attitude toward the interaction between Intellectual Property Rights and the Competition Law. Moreover, it demonstrates the path of the modernization of Block Exemption Regulations, and also the EC Competition Law itself. This article will illustrate the framework of the new TTBER with comparison to the old one and the U.S. approach. Furthermore, it will survey our position on licensing practices, especially focusing on our “Fair Trade Commission Guidelines on Technology Licensing Arrangements”. Based on the research, a proposed revolution for Taiwan FTC’s measures concerning the licensing activities will be provided at the end of this article.

Presented thesis is focused on research and development cooperation between companies from the perspective of the competition law of the European Union. The thesis analyses the evolution of the legislation applicable to on this kind of cooperation in the context of examined axis of laissez-faire - interventionism. The emphasis is put on convergence of the EU legislation for this category of collaboration with the regulations applicable for R&D agreements in the USA. The aim of presented thesis is to analyse and determine the direction of the European Union competition law regulation of research and development cooperation in the context of abovementioned axis, namely the evolution of block exemptions for this category of agreements. Apart from the coherent description of the applicable set of rules, the analysis aims to foresee the future evolution of these rules. .Another aim is to compare the European course of research and development legislation with the same kind of legislation in the USA. That is why presented thesis contains detailed analysis of the legislation applicable to R&D agreements in the USA. This objective was established in order to perform a proper comparison of both antitrust regulations and also for the purpose of analysis of convergence of these regulations. The last aim is to...