Showing archive for: “SEPs”
Patents and mergers
How should patents be taken into consideration in merger analysis? When does the combining of patent portfolios lead to anticompetitive concerns? Two principles should guide these inquiries. First, as the Supreme Court held in its 2006 decision Independent Ink, ownership of a patent does not confer market power. This ruling came in the context of ... Patents and mergers
Global Antitrust Institute’s Comments on Draft DOJ-FTC IP Guidelines are on the Mark
The Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School released today a set of comments on the joint U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) – Federal Trade Commission (FTC) August 12 Proposed Update to their 1995 Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property (Proposed Update). As has been the case with ... Global Antitrust Institute’s Comments on Draft DOJ-FTC IP Guidelines are on the Mark
New Insights on Bargaining for Patented Technology Licenses Provide Additional Reasons to Question Anti-Patent Scenarios
Discussion In recent years, U.S. government policymakers have recounted various alleged market deficiencies associated with patent licensing practices, as part of a call for patent policy “reforms” – with the “reforms” likely to have the effect of weakening patent rights. In particular, antitrust enforcers have expressed concerns that: (1) the holder of a patent covering ... New Insights on Bargaining for Patented Technology Licenses Provide Additional Reasons to Question Anti-Patent Scenarios
Global Antitrust Institute Propounds Recommendations for Reform of Japan’s Administrative Surcharge System
On August 6, the Global Antitrust Institute (the GAI, a division of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University) submitted a filing (GAI filing or filing) in response to the Japan Fair Trade Commission’s (JFTC’s) consultation on reforms to the Japanese system of administrative surcharges assessed for competition law violations (see here for ... Global Antitrust Institute Propounds Recommendations for Reform of Japan’s Administrative Surcharge System
Outstanding New Global Antitrust Institute Filing on Indian Discussion Paper Regarding Standard Essential Patents
Over the past year, the Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) at George Mason University School of Law has released some of the most thoughtful critiques of foreign governments’ proposed new guidance documents on competition law. The GAI’s March 31 comments (see here) in response to the India Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s Discussion Paper on ... Outstanding New Global Antitrust Institute Filing on Indian Discussion Paper Regarding Standard Essential Patents
FRAND Rules to Incentivize Innovation in Collective Standard Setting: What Golf Tournaments Can Teach Us
One baleful aspect of U.S. antitrust enforcers’ current (and misguided) focus on the unilateral exercise of patent rights is an attack on the ability of standard essential patent (SEP) holders to obtain a return that incentivizes them to participate in collective standard setting. (This philosophy is manifested, for example, in a relatively recent U.S. Justice ... FRAND Rules to Incentivize Innovation in Collective Standard Setting: What Golf Tournaments Can Teach Us
The Case Against Antitrust Challenges to Standard Essential Patent “Abuses” Intensifies – Will DOJ and the FTC Finally Get the Message?
Applying antitrust law to combat “hold-up” attempts (involving demands for “anticompetitively excessive” royalties) or injunctive actions brought by standard essential patent (SEP) owners is inherently problematic, as explained by multiple scholars (see here and here, for example). Disputes regarding compensation to SEP holders are better handled in patent infringement and breach of contract lawsuits, and ... The Case Against Antitrust Challenges to Standard Essential Patent “Abuses” Intensifies – Will DOJ and the FTC Finally Get the Message?
Josh Wright, Commissioner-Provocateur
Much ink will be spilled at this site lauding Commissioner Joshua (Josh) Wright’s many contributions to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and justly so. I will focus narrowly on Josh Wright as a law and economics “provocateur,” who used his writings and speeches to “stir the pot” and subject the FTC’s actions to a law ... Josh Wright, Commissioner-Provocateur
Undermining Investment in Standard Setting by Weakening Patents: How a Recent Justice Department Business Review Letter Gets Things Wrong
As I explained in a recent Heritage Foundation Legal Memorandum, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) New Patent Policy (NPP) threatens to devalue patents that cover standards; discourage involvement by innovative companies in IEEE standard setting; and undermine support for strong patents, which are critical to economic growth and innovation. The Legal Memorandum ... Undermining Investment in Standard Setting by Weakening Patents: How a Recent Justice Department Business Review Letter Gets Things Wrong
IEEE Patent Policy Change Would Undermine Property Rights and Innovation
American standard setting organizations (SSOs), which are private sector-based associations through which businesses come together to set voluntary industrial standards, confer great benefits on the modern economy. They enable virtually all products we rely upon in modern society (including mechanical, electrical, information, telecommunications, and other systems) to interoperate, thereby spurring innovation, efficiency, and consumer choice. ... IEEE Patent Policy Change Would Undermine Property Rights and Innovation
New Paper on SSOs, SEP and Antitrust by Joanna Tsai & Joshua Wright
An important new paper was recently posted to SSRN by Commissioner Joshua Wright and Joanna Tsai. It addresses a very hot topic in the innovation industries: the role of patented innovation in standard setting organizations (SSO), what are known as standard essential patents (SEP), and whether the nature of the contractual commitment that adheres to a ... New Paper on SSOs, SEP and Antitrust by Joanna Tsai & Joshua Wright
Need for Chinese Antitrust Reform (and IP and Price-Related Concerns) Spotlighted at ABA Beijing Conference
The American Bar Association’s (ABA) “Antitrust in Asia: China” Conference, held in Beijing May 21-23 (with Chinese Government and academic support), cast a spotlight on the growing economic importance of China’s six-year old Anti-Monopoly Law (AML). The Conference brought together 250 antitrust practitioners and government officials to discuss AML enforcement policy. These included the leaders ... Need for Chinese Antitrust Reform (and IP and Price-Related Concerns) Spotlighted at ABA Beijing Conference
