50Admittedly, as stated by the Advocate General in point 83 of her Opinion, that does not mean that the competition authority concerned must disregard any question relating to patent law that might influence the finding of the existence of such a competitive relationship. Any patents protecting an originator medicine or one of its manufacturing processes are indisputably part of the economic and legal context characterising the relationships of competition between the holders of those patents and the manufacturers of generic medicines. However, the assessment of the rights conferred by a patent, to be carried out by the competition authority, must not consist of a review of the strength of the patent or of the probability of a dispute between the patent holder and a manufacturer of generic medicines being brought to an end with a finding that the patent is valid and has been infringed. That assessment must rather concern the question whether, notwithstanding the existence of that patent, the manufacturer of generic medicines has real and concrete possibilities of entering the market at the relevant time.
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