Standard-Setting Consortia, Antitrust and High-Technology Industries

James J. Anton, and Dennis A. Yao

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 1995)

Standards and standard-setting organizations have been an important feature of the economic landscape for many years, particularly in the information technology and telecommunications industries. This article reviews the antitrust treatment of private-sector standard setting. It emphasizes organizational decision-making issues relevant to consideration of standard-setting "procedures" and draws on Federal Trade Commission experience with such matters. The article then examines the applicability of the law and decision-making issues for standard setting in high-technology industries.