Competition Policy for Industry Standards

Abstract

This paper is a chapter in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on International Antitrust Economics. The chapter surveys issues raised by the development of industry standards, whether accomplished through a formal standard setting committee structure or the activities of a single sponsor. The focus is on the tradeoff between the benefits from standards and possible costs that standards and the activity of standard development may impose on consumers. A particular focus is on the consequences of intellectual property rights for standards.

Keywords: standards, intellectual property, patents, competition, antitrust

JEL Classification: D23, D4, D71, K21, L10, L44, O34