Two recent items of interest.  First, DOJ and the FTC will hold another public hearing as part of their single-firm conduct inquiry on November 15.  This hearing, like other, ”will examine whether and when specific types of single-firm conduct may violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act by harming competition and consumer welfare and when they are procompetitive and lawful.”  One of the morning panelists is Josh Wright of George Mason University, but better known to some people as one of the bloggers at Truth on the Market.  (And we encourage Josh and the other panelists to give us a preview of their remarks in the comments.)

[Update: I see that Josh Wright has previously mentioned this and will be posting his slides and presentation materials on TOTM.]

Second, and more substantively, on October 30, DOJ announced that:

it will not oppose a proposal by the VMEbus International Trade Association (VITA) to implement a policy on the disclosure and licensing of patents. The policy requires the disclosure of essential patents, commitments to license essential patent claims on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms, and declarations of the most restrictive licensing terms that patent holders will require.

Morrison & Foerster’s Nicole Devero and Jeffery Jaeckel write that standard setting organizations (SSOs)

such as VITA, historically have been hesitant to allow participants to unilaterally announce royalty rates or engage in any joint royalty discussions due to fears that such activity might be viewed as per se unlawful price-fixing.  DOJ approval of VITA’s policy will allay these fears and allow SSOs to establish more effective mechanisms to prevent the patent “hold-up” problems that often arise in the standard-setting context. … The availability of this information will permit VSO standard-setting participants to avoid selecting a technology that could become too costly for licensees and potentially consumers, and thus could foster greater adoption of the standard.  Finally, the proposed patent policy resolves patent lock-in or “hold-up” issues caused by including a patented invention in an industry standard.  VSO participants will now be able to consider patent specifications, cost, and other licensing terms up-front to determine the most suitable standard. 

Technorati Tags: antitrust, trade associations

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