Don’t assume that either the litigation or legislative setbacks spell the end of the FTC’s efforts. Anne Layne-Farrar (Compass Lexecon)

In the ongoing debate over intellectual property (IP) within standard setting, the issue of patent holdup looms large.

A little over a year ago, in January 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTCâ€Â) announced a settlement with Negotiated Data Solutions (“N-Dataâ€Â) regarding the firm’s patent licensing practices in relation to the Ethernet...

The FTC ruling sends some very clear messages. But the ruling could also set some perilous precedents. In particular, the royalty rates set by the order implicitly suggest a patent counting scheme where two patents are necessarily twice as valuable as one patent.

We believe the rules set out in the Draft Guidelines for the treatment of standardization agreements under Article 101 risk chilling innovation and, in some industries, also undermining the process of standardization. Anne Layne-Farrar & Jorge Padilla (LECG)