Standards: Antitrust ruling chills standards setting: A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has clouded standards setting with the threat of antitrust liability

The Supreme Court recently ruled that the American Society of Mechanical Engineers was responsible for the actions of its members who used the ASME standards-interpretation operation to violate antitrust law. The Court approved the assessment of treble damages — more than $7 million — against the ASME, which, it determined, had granted the members involved “apparent authority” to act on its behalf. The members issued an interpretation of a standard, and their interpretation was used by one company to frustrate the sale of a competing device.