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.