A roundtable discussion among officialdom

and the private sector from the EU, U.S. and Canada

Presented by

The American Bar Association

Section of International Law & Practice, International Antitrust Law Committee

Section of Antitrust Law, Intellectual Property Law Committee and

International Antitrust & Foreign Competition Law Committee

Section of Intellectual Property Law, Committee on Antitrust Matters

Section of Business Law, Committee on Antitrust Law

Standard-setting activities generally occur among competitors, raising questions of process and substance under the antitrust laws. Increasingly, standard-setting involves the creation and use of intellectual property, raising issues of protection of IP rights versus the needs of the standard, and the potential for anticompetitive behavior based on the use (or misuse) of IP rights. Concerns about "submarine patents" in the standard-setting process (e.g., Dell Computers, Rambus v. Infineon) and the potential essential facilities nature of some IP rights (e.g., IMS, Cipro) have led to greater consideration of compulsory licenses.

• What are the evolving views from officialdom on the acceptable parameters of activity in standard-setting and the appropriate role of compulsory licenses?

• What are the methods that are being developed by standard-setting groups to deal with the challenges of intellectual property rights that may be created during the standard-setting process and/or embodied in the standard?

• What issues are involved in requiring reasonable and non-discriminatory terms in licenses in the standard-setting context?

• What advice should counsel provide to clients involved in standard-setting activities?

Randolph W. Tritell

Assistant Director for International Antitrust

Bureau of Competition

Federal Trade Commission

EU --

DG Competition, EC

DG Competition, EC

Maurits J.F.M. Dolmans

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

DG Competition, EC

Mark D. Powell

White & Case

U.S. --

Stanley M. Besen, Ph.D.

Charles River Associates

Susan Creighton

Deputy Director

Bureau of Competition

Federal Trade Commission

M. Howard Morse

Drinker Biddle & Reath

R. Hewitt Pate

Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Antitrust Division

Department of Justice

Brian Siritzky, Ph.D.

Pillsbury Winthrop

Willard K. Tom

Morgan Lewis & Bockius

Canada --

Gwillym Allen

Competition Bureau

Hypothetical and Outline of Standard Setting Issues by Stanley Besen

Standards for Standards by Maurits Dolmans

AT-IP Report on Program by Charles T. (Chris) Compton

AT-IP Standard Setting Resources