D.C. Circuit Increases Burden of Proving an Antitrust Violation in Cases Involving Misrepresentations to Standard-Setting Organizations

In a decision issued April 22 in Rambus v. FTC, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit increased the burden of proving antitrust claims premised on misrepresentations to an industry standard-setting organization (SSO). The panel unanimously reversed the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) decision that Rambus violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by failing to disclose patents under development to an SSO that later adopted an industry standard requiring use of those patents. In potential conflict with the Third Circuit’s decision last year in Broadcom v. Qualcomm, the panel held that in order to violate the antitrust laws, a misrepresentation in or an omission from a disclosure to an SSO must result in the SSO adopting a different standard than it otherwise would have.

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