Intellectual property (IP) laws confer exclusive rights on holders of patents, copyright, design rights, trademarks and other legally protected rights. The owner of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is entitled to prevent unauthorised use of its intellectual property and to exploit it, for example, by licensing it to third parties. At the same time, this right of exploitation does not mean that IPRs are immune from competition law intervention. As any other agreement, agreements concerning IPRs (eg licenses allowing the licensee to exploit the licensor’s IPRs) have to be compatible with Article 101(1), TFEU. For most potential licensees and licensors, a first step in determining the compatibility of their arrangements with EU competition law will be to assess whether they may benefit from a block exemption regulation. The block exemption regulation that is most likely to apply to an IP licence is the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER, Regulation 2026/877), the latest version of which came into force on 1 May 2026