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Full-Text Articles in Law
Making The Rules: The Governance Of Standard Development Organizations And Their Policies On Intellectual Property Rights, Justus Baron, Jorge L. Contreras, Martin Husovec, Pierre Larouche, Nikolaus Thumm
Making The Rules: The Governance Of Standard Development Organizations And Their Policies On Intellectual Property Rights, Justus Baron, Jorge L. Contreras, Martin Husovec, Pierre Larouche, Nikolaus Thumm
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the governance of standard development organizations (SDOs), with a particular emphasis on organizations developing standards for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The analysis is based on 17 SDO case studies, a survey of SDO stakeholders, an expert workshop, and a comprehensive review of the legal and economic literature. The study considers the external factors conditioning SDO decision making on rules and procedures, including binding legal requirements, government influence, the network of cooperative relationships with other SDOs and related organizations, and competitive forces. SDO decision-making is also shaped by internal factors, such as the …
Private Law, Conflict Of Laws, And A Lex Mercatoria Of Standards-Development Organizations, Jorge L. Contreras
Private Law, Conflict Of Laws, And A Lex Mercatoria Of Standards-Development Organizations, Jorge L. Contreras
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
Technical standards created by industry standards-development organizations (SDOs) enable interoperability among products manufactured by different vendors. Over the years, SDOs have developed policies to reduce the risk that SDO participants holding patents covering the SDO’s standards will disrupt or hinder the development and deployment of these standards. These policies, including commitments to license standards-essential patents (SEPs) on terms that are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND), gain transnational application given the international character of SDO activities and are most effectively interpreted and applied on the basis of private law (contractual) principles. However, SDO policies are typically embodied in an SDO’s governing …
Understanding "Balance" Requirements For Standards-Development Organizations, Jorge L. Contreras
Understanding "Balance" Requirements For Standards-Development Organizations, Jorge L. Contreras
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
Most technical standards-development organizations (SDOs) have adopted internal policies embodying “due process” criteria such openness, balance of interest, consensus decision making and appeals. Yet these criteria lack a generally-accepted definition and the manner in which they are implemented varies among SDOs. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in the principle that SDOs should ensure a balance of interests among their stakeholders. This article explores the origins and meaning of the balance requirement for SDOs. In doing so, it identifies four “tiers” of balance requirements, ranging from those required of all SDOs under applicable antitrust law, to those required of …
Frand Royalties, Anti-Suit Injunctions And The Global Race To The Bottom In Disputes Over Standards-Essential Patents, Jorge L. Contreras
Frand Royalties, Anti-Suit Injunctions And The Global Race To The Bottom In Disputes Over Standards-Essential Patents, Jorge L. Contreras
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
While national courts have long exercised extraterritorial authority over domestic entities whose conduct abroad is prohibited in the domestic jurisdiction, national courts have recently begun to use disputes over domestic patent rights as vehicles for shaping the global business arrangements of private parties even absent any violation of national law. This phenomenon has become particularly pronounced in the context of “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND) licenses of patents that are essential to the manufacture and sale of standardized products. This essay explores the increasing extraterritorial effect of national judicial decisions on licenses for standards-essential patents, including recent instances in which …
Technical Standards Meet Administrative Law: A Teaching Guide On Incorporation By Reference, Emily S. Bremer
Technical Standards Meet Administrative Law: A Teaching Guide On Incorporation By Reference, Emily S. Bremer
Journal Articles
When an agency incorporates by reference, it promulgates a rule that identifies—but does not reprint—material already published elsewhere. The incorporated materials thus become binding law without actually being printed in the agency's regulations. Sometimes the incorporated materials are privately developed technical standards, which are often copyrighted and available only for a fee. This restriction on access undermines transparency and public participation in the rulemaking process. Finding a solution is challenging because the problem is multidimensional, implicating public policy in the areas of administrative law, federal standards law and policy, and copyright.
This teaching guide is part of module that offers …