[Ecommerce] Justice Department, FTC Seek Balance Between IP, Antitrust

[Jeff Williams]

James and all,

  Joe Sims say's!!??  Oh mercy!
See: http://www.cavebear.com/cbblog-archives/000011.html

James Love wrote:

> *       The report concluded that a unilateral refusal to license
> digital  content is not intrinsically an antitrust violation, that the
> terms of intellectual property licensing can threaten competition, and
> that international bodies need to accelerate their coordination of
> intellectual property issues.
>
> *       "At its most basic level, an intellectual property right is a
> specialized restraint of trade," added *John Delacourt*, chief antitrust
> counsel for the FTC's office of policy planning. "It will confer a
> significant competitive advantage" on the patent holder.
>
> *Antitrust*
> *Justice Department, FTC Seek Balance Between IP, Antitrust*
> by Drew Clark <mailto:dclark@nationaljournal.com>
>
>       Antitrust officials at the Justice Department
> <http://www.usdoj.gov/> and the FTC <http://www.ftc.gov/> said on Friday
> that their agencies are continuing efforts to advise technology
> companies about the appropriate balance between intellectual property
> and competition law.
>       Citing an October report of Justice's intellectual property task
> force, Deputy Assistant Attorney General *Thomas Barnett* said that
> despite the report's focus on copyright piracy, it included several
> antitrust recommendations currently being implemented by the department.
>       The report concluded that a unilateral refusal to license digital
> content is not intrinsically an antitrust violation, that the terms of
> intellectual property licensing can threaten competition, and that
> international bodies need to accelerate their coordination of
> intellectual property issues.
>       "There can be threats to competition [through licensing], but we
> want to guide" the process through recommendations from Justice, Barnett
> said during a panel discussion on the subject at the Federal Society. He
> said no major changes to the 1995 industry guidelines are under way.
>       Those 1995 guidelines are widely seen among members of the
> intellectual property bar as having reversed the location of the
> pendulum that periodically swings between valuing antitrust law or
> trumped copyrights and patents more. But Justice and the FTC continue to
> investigate other ways that intellectual property rights may stifle
> competition, and the U.S. approach on licensing guidelines is become
> globally recognized, Barnett said.
>       In April 2004, for example, the European Union adopted a rule along
> the lines of U.S. guidelines on transferring government-backed
> technology research to the private sector. "The former EU proposal was
> rule-based," Barnett said. "Now it is effects-based and more focused on
> economic principles."
>       "At its most basic level, an intellectual property right is a
> specialized restraint of trade," added *John Delacourt*, chief antitrust
> counsel for the FTC's office of policy planning. "It will confer a
> significant competitive advantage" on the patent holder.
>       Delacourt elaborated on cases where intellectual property holders
> exert what he said were undue advantages over rivals through industry
> standards and referred to the agency's November 2003 report on antitrust
> and patent law. He said Justice would collaborate with FTC on the next
> section of the report, which also will deal with copyrights.
>       But Jones, Day attorney *Joe Sims* said the FTC was misguided in
> its approach to intellectual property. Referring to former agency
> Chairman *Timothy Muris*, Sims said, "One of Tim Muris' main policy
> objectives was trying to draw attention to this issue and to try to move
> that pendulum back, from his perspective, to the middle."
>       The thrust of the October report by Justice recommended creating
> five additional prosecutorial units that specialize in intellectual
> property and computer-hacking crimes. It also called for improving
> coordination of anti-counterfeiting and intellectual property
> enforcement, and changing some legal standards for wiretapping in
> criminal investigations.
>
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Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
    Pierre Abelard

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P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
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