Standard setting has become increasingly important to the economy. Voluntary, open, and market driven standard setting promotes research and development investments in “best of generation” technologies that enable and accelerate follow on innovation, competition, and economic growth....

In the last several years, competition agencies around the world have imposed or considered imposing extra-jurisdictional remedies on patent holders, particularly owners of standard-essential patents (SEPs) upon which the patent holder has made a commitment to license on fair, reasonable, and...

Investigations and litigation involving standard-essential patents (SEPs) have begun to spring up around the globe. In February 2014, the Korean Fair Trade Commission issued its first decision on the issue of whether seeking injunctive relief on a FRAND-encumbered SEP constitutes a violation of...

The generally well-accepted belief motivating modern antitrust analysis of vertical mergers — i.e., acquisitions that combine companies in different levels of the same supply chain — is that they are generally procompetitive or neutral. That belief is based upon a significant body of...

There is a significant industrial organization (IO) economics literature on the economics of innovation and intellectual property (IP) protection. As some courts and antitrust agencies have recognized, the IO economics toolkit for business arrangements (e.g., vertical restraints, tying and...

This article offers the following recommendations, focusing on #3 and 6:1. Specifics on how the Agencies will implement the principles set forth in the Guidelines. The Guidelines state throughout that the Agencies “may consider” certain factors; this language should be revised to say...