In order to resolve or alleviate the conflict between intellectual property rights and competition law, this paper proposes a two-pronged approach. On the one hand it seeks to introduce the rightfully, i.e. stringently-defined, essential facility doctrine as the yardstick for the determination of whether the dominant or monopolistic undertakings have abused their market power by refusing to grant licenses for the use of their patents. On the other hand, it seems appropriate to infuse competition perspectives into the regime of compulsory licensing patents, which pursues its own public policy goals. In other words, the compulsory licensing of patents is seen through the eyes of the essential facility doctrine, which compulsorily grants licenses for the use of patents if the refusal to grant such licenses by the patentee would exclude competition in the downstream, upstream or adjacent markets. This paper concludes by suggesting that the Fair Trade Commission should be the competent authority to handle the issue of the compulsory licensing of patents in the future.