Federal Appeals Court Sees Potential Antitrust Violation in Standardization Skullduggery

The US court of appeals in Philadelphia recently ruled that intentional deception of a private standard-setting organization, when used to acquire or maintain monopoly power, can be an illegal monopolistic practice. The ruling reversed a trial court decision that had dismissed Broadcom´s lawsuit against Qualcomm involving the latter´s patented technology in the UMTS standard for cell phones. Stern explains the ruling and notes its implications for IEEE standard-setting bodies.