Standard Bodies and Patent Pools

Paul H. Saint-Antoine, a partner in the firm's Litigation Department and co-head of the firm's Antitrust Practice Group, recently spoke at Law Seminars International's program in Chicago on the topic of Standard-Setting and Patent Pools. Mr. Saint-Antoine, who has written extensively on the topic of the application of the antitrust laws to intellectual property transactions, addressed the special issues of "de facto" standards, which concerns situations in which one market participant, as opposed to a standard-setting organization, has the ability to set a relevant industry standard.