Applying Basic Antitrust Principles to SEPs
Law360, September 25, 2017
7 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2017 Last revised: 5 Oct 2017
Date Written: August 27, 2017
Abstract
There have been significant calls recently for findings that infringement suits and licensing conduct by patent assertion entities (PAEs) labeled “patent trolls” and by holders of standard essential patents (SEPs) generally are monopolization or attempts to monopolize that violate Sherman Act §2, 15 U.S.C. §2. This paper argues that the basic principles of keeping in mind history and context, and general antitrust principles, apply equally to SEPs and PAEs as to other economic phenomena.
Keywords: PAE, SEP, trolls, patent assertion entities, standard essential, monopolization, attempts to monopolize, Sherman Act
JEL Classification: K21, K29
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation