Standards-Development Organizations Must File to Limit Antitrust Liability

The Standards Development Organization ("SDO") Advancement Act of 2004 (H.R. 1086, enacted June 22, 2004) provides SDOs with an opportunity to limit their antitrust liability for standards development activities to actual, as opposed to treble, damages by filing a proper notification

• Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Act, or 90 days after commencing a standards development activity engaged in for the purpose of developing or promulgating voluntary consensus standards;
• Disclosing the name of the SDO and its principal place of business;
• Providing documents showing the nature and scope of the standards development activity;
• Containing one copy of all documents submitted to the FTC and two copies of all documents submitted to the DOJ; 
• To the following addresses

Federal Trade Commission
Bureau of Competition
Office of Policy and Coordination
600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Room 394
Washington, DC 20580

Department of Justice
Antitrust Division
Office of Operations
Patrick Henry Building
601 D St., NW Room 10-013
Washington, DC 20530
FEDEX ZipCode: 20004

Any SDO may file additional notifications as are appropriate to extend the protections to standards development activities that are not covered by the initial filing or that have changed significantly since the initial filing.

The FTC or the DOJ will then publish a notice in the Federal Register that identifies the SDO and describes its standards development activities in general terms. The FTC or the DOJ will make the notice available to the filing SDO before publishing it in the Federal Register and notifications may be withdrawn before publication.  However, no SDO will receive the liability limiting protections of the Act if its notification is withdrawn before publication.

To facilitate publication in the Federal Register, SDOs may provide the FTC and the DOJ with a draft notice. In addition, SDOs should provide the name and contact information of the person or persons authorized to approve the proposed notice.

More information is available from the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and Bill Heinze.

Courtesy of William F. Heinze*
Thomas, Kayden, Horstemeyer & Risley, L.L.P.
100 Galleria Parkway, N.W., Suite 1750
Atlanta, GA 30339-5948  (USA)

 

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