Revisiting Standard-Setting Organizations’ Patent Policies

Kraig A. Jakobsen, Juris Doctor candidate at Northwestern University School of Law

5/30/2008
(Original Publish Date: 10/1/2004)

Many industry leaders have difficult decisions to make when it comes to participation in standard-setting organizations (“SSOs”). On one hand, SSO membership offers its participants various incentives such as the ability to keep current with emerging technologies, guide their product development groups toward developing standardcompliant products, and steer their organization’s research efforts in the direction of potential future standardization. On the other hand, when members fail to fully understand or comply with the SSOs’ often ambiguous patent policies, they not only risk forfeiting intellectual property rights in their technology, but may also face antitrust liability.