Sean P. Gates
SEAN GATES is in the Anticompetitive Practices Division of the
Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. He has
extensive experience in antitrust issues involving intellectual
property, and he has litigated both antitrust and patent cases.
Immediately after joining the Commission in 2004, Mr. Gates
was a key part of the trial team for the Commission’s case
against Union Oil Company of California (Unocal), which involved
monopolization through the manipulation of a government regulatory
process and the enforcement of patents. While at the Commission,
Mr. Gates has also investigated potential matters involving patent
pools and patent predation.
Prior to joining the Federal Trade Commission, Mr. Gates was
in private practice, focusing on antitrust and patent litigation.
His matters included major antitrust cases such as the trial
defense of a computer technology company before the Federal Trade
Commission (In the Matter of Rambus Inc.), the defense
of a major music company in a multidistrict antitrust action
involving forty-two state attorneys general as well as a private
plaintiffs (Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust
Litigation), and the defense of a class-action price-fixing
case in the music industry (Compact Disc Price Fixing Litigation).
Mr. Gates also litigated a number of antitrust cases in other
industries, including the computer, movie, cellular telephone,
and chemical industries. In addition, Mr. Gates has litigated
and tried patent cases in the pharmaceutical, computer, and nuclear
power industries.
In addition to litigation, Mr. Gates represented companies in
investigations brought by the antitrust enforcement agencies.
This included investigations involving joint ventures for the
provision of music and movies over the internet, pharmaceutical
patent licensing agreements, cooperative advertising arrangements,
and co-promotional agreements in the pharmaceutical industry.
Mr. Gates is currently a Vice Chair of Intellectual Property
Committee of ABA Section of Antitrust, he is a contributing author
for the ABA’s recently published Handbook on the Antitrust
Aspects of Standards Setting, and he has published articles
on various antitrust issues, including: An Antitrust Counselor's
Guide to Most-Favored-Nations Clauses, 10 Competition 54
(2001); Standards, Innovation, and Antitrust: Integrating
Innovation Concerns Into the Analysis of Collaborative Standard
Setting, 47 Emory L.J. 583 (1998); and California Antitrust:
Standing Room for the Wrongfully Discharged Employee?, 47
Hast. L.J. 509 (1996)
Mr. Gates received his Juris Doctor, summa cum laude,
from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. He
also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering
from U.C. Berkeley.