CHAPTER 2: Competition Concerns When Patients are Incorporated Into Collaboratively Set Standards

U.S. Department of Justice

10/06/2008
(Original Publish Date: 9/1/2006)

Industry standards are widely acknowledged to be one of the engines driving the modern economy. Standards can make products less costly for firms to produce and more valuable to consumers. They can increase innovation, efficiency, and consumer choice; foster public health and safety; and serve as a "fundamental building block for international trade." Standards make networks, such as the Internet and wireless telecommunications, more valuable by allowing products to interoperate. The most successful standards are often those that provide timely, widely adopted, and effective solutions to technical problems.